Differences: Illuminated
by Rocci
Summary: The final part of the Differences Series. Sequel to Cherished. Since Celia's death Diclonius and humans are beginning to war on each other again. It is up to Celia's own daughter, Ashrina, to fix this problem. But things are easier said than done.
1. Grief Stricken

**Ch 1: Grief Stricken**

_Somehow, even with the sun shining overhead, there was always a sense of depression in Kamakura City. A depression that people just couldn't get over especially the Diclonius whose hearts wept every day…of every month…of every year. But on one day…of one year they gather…humans and Diclonius to pay homage to a certain tomb that stands from the rest. Some rest their hands, both physical and unphysical and place it on the tomb, in the hope that she is in a better place. There is silence, nobody speaks and nobody is stupid enough to dare speak…during a time like this. _

_Standing at the very front, is a spectacle man, although he is currently holding his glasses as he wipes off the tears that plaster his face. His 16 year old daughter cries as well, looking at the tomb with everyone else. Everyone, the world has joined in this lamentation it would seem, everyone…crying in sorrow as they see that tomb…and feel their souls collapse with regret._

_He reads the plaque, taking in every word and just lets his grief roll down his face. He is dimly aware of people going away…but he has to stay here and just look at that great tomb, doing his best to stop himself from breaking down into sobs on the ground. The birds began to call until he places the glasses back on his face and is greeted by 3 people._

"_Are you going to stay here a little longer." Kouta asked._

"_Yes." Frederick replied. _

_They left with their own daughter, and Frederick stood with his, just looking at where the person he cherished laid sleeping. If only she was sleeping, if only she could just wake up. If only she would just wake up, and make him happy again. "Father…don't cry."_

_His daughter kept him rooted to the Earth, she gave him a reason to continue. "Thank you honey…I won't." He pulled back his tears and turned around. Everyone had left except for Jericho who leaned casually against the massive arced tombstone that held thousands of names. He was on the cell phone, obviously working on something important. It had been 9 years since his wife's death, why hadn't he found her? What was he waiting for, why was he wasting his time here?_

"_Jerichio."_

_The 56 year old man raised his head. His face etched in lines, his moustache and beard grey as was his hair. One eye was blue with silver outlining while the other one was completely silver in color. He wore a large black coat, the likes of which had only one sleeve as the man only had one arm. _

"_What is it Frederick." He said, his voice gruff and accented due to his English heritage. "Have you found anything on Serelia yet?" Frederick asked. "No." Jericho's replied, turning back to his cell phone. "I am doing my best to work out her location but there are other important matters at hand that I have to catch up on." "I'm sorry, but finding my wife's murderer is more important than whatever else needs to be done." Frederick said, his voice dropping an octave. _

"_I understand your regret Frederick, but I cannot keep my occupied with finding one person. Especially when the Diclonius and human relationship is on the fringe."_

"_No." Frederick was angry now. His wife, his precious one was killed and for 9 years nothing had happened, nobody had found that murderess. "You will find her now." His tone was bitter, agonized, he wanted revenge. "Father…don't' be angry." Ashrina said, looking at Jericho as if hoping he would make things better. "Frederick. You're wife's loss is a tragedy, believe me. But there are just things that I have to take care of."_

"_You're just enjoying yourself because just like your own daughter, you enjoy seeing other people in misery just like you!"_

_Frederick knew at once he gone too far. Jericho whipped out his magnum, pointing it directly at Frederick's forehead. His once impassive face was now set in cold hard seriousness that lined his face so much he looked ancient, but his fury was burning through his finger that held the trigger finger. "Don't you dare bring Elena into your miserable excuse. Don't you dare try to say that Chiba Celia held more importance than my child you son of a bitch!"_

_Frederick knew at once he gone way out of hand, considering this was the first time he had ever heard Jericho curse. Hell, it was the first time he had actually ever seem him get angry, and calm as he always was, it was like seeing another man. He regretted his actions, Jericho was not an enemy, he was in fact a close friend. He truly had been trying to help out with finding Serelia, and Frederick knew that while he the head of Institution 'A' he had other businesses to attend._

"…_I'm sorry Jericho. I spoke out of line." _

_The blacked coated man's face calmed down, he put his gun away and nodded his head. "Don't worry about it." Frederick and Ashrina, feeling that it was time to leave, went back home. Jericho, alone walked to another tomb and looked at the engraving of his own name. He reached down into the dirty and picked up a small photograph of himself and his wife Miyana, holding their daughter Elena. Deep down in the dirt, he was dead…and here he was…above the dirt, alive. _

_And he just stood there…doing nothing but holding that photograph for 10 minutes until he placed it down, and returned back to the Institution._

"_Are you having fun." Ierina said to the woman who couldn't talk, too scared to utter a single word. Serelia was watching her daughter with pride, nodding her head for Ierina to continue. Her victim was a young woman, in fact a college student who had the unfortunate luck of being at the wrong place, at the wrong time. _

"_Take your time." Serelia whispered. _

"_Yes, mother." She nodded, and with that acknowledgement she shattered the woman's elbow, letting her left arm limp to the side. When she opened her mouth to scream, a vector blocked her mouth. "Hurts…doesn't it?" The young girl said, breaking the other elbow in the process and of course keeping the young woman from so much as opening her mouth. _

"_Humans like you…the world doesn't need it. You're nothing but a parasite on the good pure Diclonius that live here." She said, allowing a slow caress of the woman's arm before it too was ripped off violently. She shook, she shuddered, she moaned and begged for this pain to end in her mind._

"_Mama, what should I do next with her?" Her daughter asked it like it was the most common question in the world. It was something that everyone asked. "Hm?" The Dark Queen thought mockingly. "Snap her wrist."_

_She shook her head, she begged with moans. Ierina placed her vector inside of her hand, and then snapped. Breaking the bones as the woman screamed silently in her vector's palm. She cried…her eyes widening with each unbearable crack. What did she do to deserve this? Please just let it stop, already. Let her die in peace. Let her…"Guah!" Blood dripped from her mouth, her body contorting reflexively as her spine was ripped from her body. Eyes rolling to show the whites, the young human woman died slowly, painfully and pathetically._

"_That was fun Mama!" And she meant it too. She had been raised to hate humans, to brutally murder them and then laugh. They were nothing, they were bugs…no. They were a disease that they had to be destroyed. But things were hardly easy for them either, they had to travel at night, stealing food and keeping themselves hidden. When they killed, it was when they're victim was alone. _

"_You've done very well Ierina, a real Diclonius." _

"_Thank you mama. Mama?"_

_Serelia raised her head. "What is it?"_

"_I hate that we have to work in the shadows. What are we going to do?"_

"…_You're right Ierina. This will change…and to do that. There is but one obstacle holding the relationship between Diclonius and humans intact. You will be the one who breaks this chain…you will kill Celia's daughter."_

"_Father…I miss mother." It was late at night and Ashrina could not bear to hold her thoughts to herself any more. Frederick had to take 3 deep breaths before he could even talk, and there was sadness in every part of his voice. "I know Ashrina…I miss her too. We all miss her." His daughter put her head in his shoulders, crying silently as Frederick closed his eyes. _

"_Celia. I'm so sorry. I won't let your death be in vain. Oh Celia…I'm so sorry." He took his daughter, and held her tightly, afraid that his only child would suddenly vanish from himself. _

"_Father…I can't stay here." Ashrina sobbed. "I can't stay in the same house where my own mother once lived. It hurts too much. I want to go back."_

"_Back?" Frederick asked, but at the same time, he knew what she was talking about._

"_I don't' want to live here. It's too sad, and my girl who killed my mother is somewhere. I'm scared. I'm really scared."_

_Sighing deeply, Frederick placed soothing hand on Ashrina's head. "I know Ashrina. We'll move back to the United States." He wanted to find Serelia at all costs…but he valued the desires of his daughter even more. "T-thank you father…" she sobbed heavily again._

_**Differences Terminology and Characters**_

_For anyone who has yet to read the Differences series (Shame on you) there some terminology and character profiles that I feel need to be done._

_TERMINOLOGY_

_Institutions: You can fairly easy take a wild guess on what this is. These are the Diclonius Facilities that held the Diclonius for certain experimentations much like the original manga in anime. In the story, there are 26 different Institutes, each one for a letter of the Alphabet._

_Institution A: This was the Institution whose primary attribute was the study of Diclonius brain waves. It was originally run by Kakuzawa Torino and was the hell that Celia had to live in before. It has now become a place for the correction of Diclonius felons now run by Jericho. _

_Institution Z: The name given to the Institution where Lucy once resided. In the manga, this facility is destroyed along with the entire island. However in the story the island survives but the facility itself is left in ruin. It is here that Celia fought both Torino and Jericho and the Island is once again left in a state of disarray. It is unoccupied._

_Pure Form: The transformed state that Royal Diclonius are able to achieve. This is based on the part of the magna where when Kouta is shot by the man in their house, she gets angry and horns elongate as do her vectors. It is considered the most powerful form of a Diclonius where only a few are capable of fighting them. _

_CHARACTER PROFILES_

_Ridini Frederick: Frederick is a Super human, capable of long bursts of speed to the point where he seems to teleport. He was the husband of the late Ridini Celia and since the death of his wife, is in a deep depression. He seeks revenge against Serelia but also knows that he has to raise and protect his own daughter Ashrina._

_Ridini Celia: The Primary heroine of Differences and Differences: Cherished. She was a young Diclonius Queen who managed to find salvation with humans. She fell in love with Frederick, whom they had a child. However, she was killed by her dark self Serelia and died in the grieving arms of her husband. Her name has been written down in Diclonius and human history. Her death has caused a rip between the Diclonius and human relationship._

_Ridini Ashrina: She is the daughter of Ridini Frederick and Ridini Celia. She is almost a spitting image of her mother and due to her royal nature, she is now considered the New Queen of the Diclonius. Having been raised by her father, she holds no anger towards human nature. In fact Ashrina is very calm and almost timid._

_Chiba Serelia: Serelia is Celia's on Voice manifested in physical form. She is the complete opposite of Celia, a dark complexion who desires nothing more than the death of every human in the world and the birth of pure Diclonius. She raises her own daughter to hate humans…and fills her head with lies and deceit._

_Brutus: Brutus was the second known King Diclonius since Kakuzawa Franco. (Refer to the other fics) He, much like his namesake is a brutal Diclonius who not only kills humans but takes a sadistic enjoyment out of it also. He sought Celia out to have sex with her but was easily acceptable with Serelia. In the end he fights Kakuzawa Torino and is killed after a mighty struggle. Blow to pieces by gunship turrets controlled mentally by Torino._

_Chiba Ierina: The daughter of Serelia and Brutus. Ierina has been raised by her mother to hate humans with a passion and to enjoy murdering them. However she and her mother have to be on the run, and can only do things at night, hidden. She hates this, and her mother tells her that to fix this, she has to break the ties between humans and Diclonius. She had to kill Ashrina._

_Isaac "Jericho" Grandes: The once stoic bodyguard of Kakuzawa Torino. Jericho, now an aged man is the head of Institution 'A'. He is doing his best to keep humans and Diclonius together but the ordeal has proven to be quite taxing. The stress of his job as well as his own personal loss has perhaps aged his body much more. He has the unique ability to see vectors which accompanied with his excellent gun handling skills, is able to fight Diclonius directly. He is also a clone, created from the original Jericho who died against Celia many years ago._

_Kakuzawa Torino: The first born son of Director Kakuzawa. Torino made his name as someone who all Diclonius feared and hated. He despised everything in life because he was never happy and hated seeing those who were happy. In an attempt to break himself away from what he referred to as "The Egoistical War" he transformed his body in a living monster and attempted to kill Celia. He failed but his body regenerated._

_He then ends up helping Celia, and through everything he does, he states that he only helps her for his own causes, but his motivations are often in question. _

_He fights Brutus in an epic battle onboard the S.S. Diclo. On the fringe of being defeated, he kills Brutus by having a turret fire straight through his back, destroying Brutus and blowing his own body and head apart into pieces, destroying the entire ship where he sinks along down with it._


	2. Lost In Regret

**Ch 2: Lost In Regret**

_Even after 9 long years, Ashrina would always cry when she was inside that house. Every day she would wake up in her bed and expect to see the smiling face of her mother. She would sob uncontrollably when her mother did not appear in the house. She would breakdown in sorrow in the midst of the day when she would realize that her mother was not coming for her. She would weep uncontrollably when it hit her, her heart, her soul…that her dear mother was dead. There was no way that she could take this pain, this emotional turmoil. She would go insane, just hoping to imagine her mother walking through the doorways. It was too much, she had to leave._

_The goodbye with her best friend Lilium was quick but the heartfelt tears would last a lifetime. "I'll visit you. One day." Lilium said as Frederick and Ashrina went up to the terminal for their flight. Ashrina waved goodbye, the farewell to her friends and family. How long would it be, until she saw Lilium and Lucy and Kouta again? It would be long for certain…too long and too hard to return back to Japan. Sensing her distress, Frederick placed a helping arm around her shoulder which only increased her sobs. So what could he do, but cry along with her. He held himself more in controlled, but he also let the tears slide across his face._

_A siplitet came up, and offered a soothing hand. "Please don't cry. I hate to see our Queen crying…"_

"_DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Ashrina screamed, her eyes shut tightly. She couldn't bear to be called that name. She couldn't bear to referred to as The Queen, because it truly meant that her mother was long gone and away. "Please…" She whispered, burying her head in her father's shoulder. "…Don't call me that. It hurts…"_

_The Siplitet paused, his mouth parted half-way as he understood her trembling sadness. "Alright Ashrina…" He said, wanting to calm her down as best as he could. "I'm sorry Ashrina." He looked once at Frederick whose eyes were closed and taking a deep breath walked away. _

"_Ashrina…" Frederick said after a while. "Are you hungry? I can get you something to eat."_

_The young girl nodded her head once, picking her head up as her father left to bring her some food. He returned later with a single sandwich and drink allowing her to eat in peace as he closed his eyes and the nightmares came._

_He was sitting in a chair in a completely white room and the funny thing was, he was completely aware of it. It wasn't like a dream, where one was only half aware of their surroundings, Frederick could understand everything and knew that he was dreaming. Yet he didn't wake up. His mind imagined footsteps coming and an arrogant voice boomed loudly at him. "You are fucking pathetic." He didn't want to look up, but by whatever reason for a dream he did, seeing the haughty figure of his old rival. Vetus Crease. A fist rammed into his gut and somehow it hurt, and dream or not he reeled forward. "To think…" Crease said, his voice dripping with venom. "…That I was killed by a piece of weakass shit like you."_

"_Please…"_

_*BAM!* Even in his dreams he could hear the sound of his nose breaking. "PLEASE?" Crease screamed. "You sicken me, you bastard. You're terrible, your nothing but low life piece of crap. She's dead! She's dead and she'll never come back!" With that, Crease vanished and as if on instinct, Frederick turned his head to see Celia lying on the ground in her own blood. "Celia…" He mumbled, waking up just that moment._

_His daughter was yelling…no. She was crying but not in a way that her heart was in pieces, it was painful. Like she was being hurt physically, he could hear a loud commotion going on, people were screaming. _

"_FATHER!"_

_He jerked his head up, looking around to see, to his horror to see her daughter floating in midair, trying to clutch something around her throat as a Diclonius stood below her. He reacted immediately, his body disappearing in an instant and his first colliding with the girl's face. Ashrina dropped to the floor, picking herself up, her face etched in shock. "Father!" She cried before she was roughly pushed out of the way by Frederick, his face strained. "Get back!" He roared turning on his heels to face the Diclonius, pulling out his daggers. _

_The girl arched her legs, bending forward as she prepared to attack. Frederick gripped his weapons, making sure that this girl could not get passed him to his daughter. "Leave…now." He said._

"_And why?"_

_The voice came form behind…and Frederick turned to see…Serelia._

"_You…" He whispered, eyes widening as he saw her. Standing smugly, without concern…without remorse. She dare to stand there in front of him, smiling darkly? Ashrina was in the same state of mind, furious. "THAT BITCH KILLED MY MOTHER!" She roared, the wind kicking up around her as she charged forward. She felt a blow to her diaphragm, effectively knocking the wind out of her as she slid away. "No Ashrina!" Frederick said pulling back his fist, feeling horrible that he had hurt his daughter like that, although it was for her own safety. "Father…"_

"_I SAID NO! GET ON THE PLANE!!"_

_And his face was set into such a miserable expression that he was demanding Ashrina to do anything. He was begging her to leave, he was pleading for her to escape. "GET ON THE FUCKING PLANE!!" He cursed at her, he yelled for her to get away._

"_F-father?" _

"_The plane…" He moaned and finally, paying one last look at her distraught father's face, she turned tale and ran. "No." She heard a voice, probably one from the other girl who had held her up. "Shit!" Her father's curse and she could hear them fighting. She was scared, she was running through the hallway to the plane and she could hear screaming behind her, loud tears and rips. She didn't even want to imagine what was going on back there, but she could hear her coming. "GET ON THE PLANE ASHRINA!" Two Siplitets rushed out, their vectors shooting passed Ashrina to attack Ierina._

_As she stepped on the plane, she heard a high pitched wail, and saw the side of the door splatter with blood. "No!" Ierina yelled as the plane began to pull away, another pair of Siplitets jumped out, eager to help the one who just couldn't call herself Queen and pushed Ierina back. The young girl, watched as one of the Siplitets had their brain torn out of their skull. She clutched her head, her mind spinning out of control. Just make it stop! Wait?_

_What the hell was she doing on this plane? Her father was out there, fighting…maybe even dying. She had to help him, she had to kill that murderess. That girl who killed her own mother in cold blood! She had to kill her! She tried to make a mad rush to the door, bringing out her vectors pry it open. The plane was beginning to lift off._

"_No! You can't!" She felt something holding her back…who could be doing such a thing? She threw her vectors out, effectively pushing the person away as once again made a mad attempt to open the door. "Ashrina!"_

"_SHUT UP!" She cried, her wet tears running down her face. I have to back! Please…I can't do this!" She got her vectors out again but a single blow to the back of her head caused her to fall forward into unconsciousness._

"_Father…?" She was still half asleep so perhaps he hadn't heard him call him, she cleared her throat. "Father." She said more clearly and louder. He still didn't answer, they were on the plane, perhaps he was using the restroom and…_

_Then she remembered. _

"_Hello." She called out, feeling so alone right now. A young woman, a human came up to her. "Are you feeling ok Ashrina?" She spoke kindly, even offering her a pack of crackers. Ashrina took them, but looked around her, searching even though she knew he wasn't on, she knew what had happened. "It's ok Ashrina, you're going to be alright now." _

"_Where's my father?"_

"_I don't know honey." _

"…_I…I need to rest. Please…I need to rest." The kind woman nodded her head and left, leaving Ashrina to nibble on the crackers and look outside the window. The clouds were rolling overhead and oddly calmly sight. But to her, it was just a reminder of what she was leaving behind. She closed her eyes and hoped, to anything and everything that her father was alright. _

_After an hour passed, she once again called out. "Hello?" Almost on cue the kind woman came back to her. "May I help you Ashrina?"_

"_What's happening back there? What happened to my father? Please tell me."_

"_I'm sorry Ashrina…I don't' know."_

"_Can't you find out?" She asked getting desperate._

"_I'm sorry…I can't."_

_She bowed her head and closed her eyes._

_Of course it wasn't going to be easier asleep than a wake. She was wacked with nightmares where she saw her mother being brutally killed by Serelia in her very face. Every time she tried to run in and help, Serelia would smack her aside simplistically. It wasn't until her mother was split in half that she began to scream._

"_Ashrina!"_

_Her screams grew in pitch._

"_ASHRINA!"_

_She gasped, waking up from her night, the kind woman's hand holding a warm rag over her sweating forehead. "I'm sorry." She moaned, feeling terrible about herself. "But I'm so scared…I don't know what's happened to my father or if he's even alive. I'm scared."_

"_I know Ashrina, we'll be arriving in the United States soon."_

"…_What am I going to do? Where will I go?"_

"_Don't worry, there will be somebody waiting for you there. We've already had contact with him." _

"_Who?"_

"_I believe he's the commander and director of Institution 'A', Jericho."_

"_Jericho?" Ashrina thought. She had no problem with that at all, in fact, she felt rather glad. Jericho was a silent and strict old man, but he was also strong and she felt that if he was around, she would be protected. _

_After several more hours, the plane arrived back in the place that she was born in._

_Ashrina left the plane heading towards the terminal and sitting in one of the chairs as she instructed to do. 10 minutes later she was aware of a specific sound heading her way, and turned to see who it was coming._

_Jericho had been old, lined with graying hair, beard and moustache. But now he looked even older if such a thing was possible and his appearance was ragged but calm. However the first thing she noticed was the condition that his body was in right now. A large scar ran from the tip of his right jaw up to where his left eye would have been. Where it would have been, because he didn't have a left eye. It was a black scar, ripped and torn. He was also leaning on cane, walking with slow strides as he seemed to be visibly straining to not even fall over._

_She felt a pity but also horror. She had always known Jericho as rather aged but physically adept person. Right now, she hoped he wasn't about to have a heart attack. He limped over to her, his eyes set in their stoic stare. "Ashrina…" Jericho said in his gruff voice, pulling out from his own pocket a lighter and cigarette. She never knew Jericho smoked._

"_I see you made it." He said, giving a motion with his hand for Ashrina to stay seated when she tried to get up. "That's good, I want you to listen closely Ashrina because this is very important." He gave a quick cough but continued to smoke as he continued speaking. _

"_Japan and several countries have fallen to Serelia's control. No human is safe there and I have done my best to send as many people away from Japan as I could. I myself had to leave also, and I made it my duty to find you. You can't go back home."_

"…_I can't? But my father's there! I need to kill Serelia."_

"_I can't let you do that and not because I don't want you to either. Serelia is far too strong for you and your name in Japan is now taken as a fugitive. Everyone is looking for you, mostly to kill you. It's far too dangerous for you to handle."_

"_I have to go back."_

"_I can't let you."_

_Ashrina clenched her fist. She was getting tired of everyone telling her what she could and couldn't do. She was tried of these short answers. Jericho sighed, spitting out the cigarette into the nearest trash can. Nobody seemed to bother telling him he couldn't' smoke in the place, partially because of who he was and whom he was with. "I got a call that Serelia was in the Japanese airport and went to intercept her. But I'm not as lithe as I was in my younger days." _

_She took real notice of his scars now. The way he looked, most people would have downright surprised to know that he survived a fight with Serelia._

"_Where is my father?" Ashrina asked, her voice echoing a deep wanting desire. Jericho cleared his throat and she stepped back when Jericho's face became a beacon of despondency. She began to shake her head, not wanting to hear what he was going to say._

"_I'm sorry Ashrina…" Jericho replied in his accented tone._

"_No…" She whispered shaking her head._

"…_Your father is dead."_

_Author's note: And you all thought Torino was an asshole._


	3. Into Pieces

**Ch 3: Into Pieces**

"_No."_

_Ashrina said it softly and shook her head calmly knowing full well that Jericho had been mistaken. He merely looked at her, his face unreadable and she hated it, she hated that calm, unfeeling face. "You're wrong." She said, and though she tried to be stern, tried to be serious, she was beginning to shake. "No…" She whispered, trying to make Jericho realize the folly in his mistake, she didn't understand why he wasn't accepting the fact that he was wrong._

"…_N-no…" But his face did not change, he didn't give any notion that he was wrong. His single silver/blue eye would not blink, and he wouldn't' say anything. "No!" She yelled, falling to her own knees as her grief overcame her. "Take it back! No! You're wrong!" And she hoped, for everything that she knew that he would admit to being wrong, that he would say that he had been mistaken. She took one long look into his aged features, wanting so desperately to admit that he was wrong._

"_P-please…say…y-you're w-w-wrong." Ashrina sobbed, shuddering as she bent low on her knees, clutching herself like she was freezing. "F-father?" She was mumbling now, her tears running down her face again, her own hope crushed again. Why didn't Jericho just admit he was fucking wrong? Why? _

"_Is she alright?" Someone was talking to Jericho, whom she didn't know. She flickered her head up to see a male Siplitet come over to her, raising a helping hand. "Can I help you Queen Ashrina?"_

_It shattered. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!!! I AM NOT THE QUEEN!!" She shrieked it at him, throwing her vectors wildly around, breaking apart the floor beneath her and feeling her own sorrow explode out of her. The Siplitet wisely backed off as Ashrina collapsed into her own regret and with a deep shuddering breath rocked back and forth on the floor, leaving everyone to watch her. _

_Her mother was dead…_

_Her father was dead…_

_What did she do to deserve such harshness? "Mother…father…" She was breathing heavily, not wanting but also completely seeing that her parents, her loving parents were dead. No._

_That was the wrong word. They weren't dead._

_Brutally slaughtered in cold blood, that was a more fitting term. She could still see her conceited face smiling like dark angel, that freak of nature. _

_Serelia._

"_I'll kill her…" She mumbled, and in the very back of her head, her mind gave a slight push as if agreeing with her. "Dammit I'll kill her…" Her breathing was becoming ragged, but her rage had anything but quelled. Jericho could immediately see the anger brewing up inside of her, and realized the danger that she could pose if her royal nature got out of hand._

"_Settle down Ashrina." He said calmly but sternly and Ashrina took in a few deep breaths, trying to compose herself. "I understand how you feel, but you…"_

"_You don't know a damn how I feel…" She growled, glaring ferociously at him, her heart personally blaming him for her father's death. Why hadn't he done something? Why hadn't he saved her own father? "It's funny…you know?" _

_She wasn't thinking straight, she was to wrapped up in her own despair._

"…_You seem to enjoy hanging around monsters…" Jericho knew of course she was talking about Kakuzawa Torino, the self created god and the man he once served and respected despite his ethics. Of course Ashrina had never met Torino personally and Jericho had a strong feeling Celia had told her a few things. He couldn't honestly hold it against the woman to tell Ashrina these thing though. Torino and Celia had never exactly been on each other's good side. _

"…_And you used to kill our kind. You just want to make us suffer! My mother spoke so highly of you too!"_

_His eye flashed warningly. "Ashrina." He said it coldly, his respect dimming greatly in the process. "I did what I had to do, I am not a savior and I never was despite what your mother might have said."_

"…_I hate you…" She muttered._

"_You aren't the first." He said._

"…_Why didn't you save my father!?"_

"_I told you, I am not a savior. I cannot protect everyone and it is not in my nature to protect. It is my own choice that I make."_

"_Then you're a coward!" She screamed, tears running down her face. "You're a worthless piece of crap! He was right there! You could have saved him but no…you had to make a fucking *sniff* choice and come to me? I could be in the arms of *Sniff* my father. I *sniff* hate you!"_

"…_I realize what Torino was talking about." Jericho said, bowing his head and closing his eyes. When he opened them, he displayed nothing short of a intense boiling disgust with the young girl in front of him. "You Diclonius really do cry and bitch a lot."_

_She stopped, looking at him as if she hadn't heard him correctly._

"_I keep this locket…" Jericho said, holding up the intended item up with is one hand, opening it up so that Ashrina could see what was inside of it. "…As a momentum to my daughter and wife who died in this 'egoistical war' and as reminder of the time when I was happy. You Ashrina are constantly adored by others around you, loved by a mother and father who gave up everything to protect you. You're friends would never leave your side, and would sooner die then betray you. You are an innocent soul who had so much agony pressed upon it._

"_I'm going to kill her." She said defiantly._

"_Ashrina you can't. Not at your level and it would be an insult to your mother and father's memory to allow you to do it." Jericho said, his lined face regretful. _

"_So you're just going to let that murderess live. Why don't you kill her!?" She yelled. Jericho shook his head. "In my prime I could have killed her, not easily and she'd have just as good chance of killing me as I would her. But the time is long gone since then, body has aged, drastically and while I definitely have the weapons to handle her. I do not have the physical attributes to take on a Queen leveled Diclonius anymore. At best I could fight for about 10 minutes with Serelia, which is not enough time to find an opening to kill her. _

_Ashrina fell back down to her knees and cried silently into the ground. "I have nothing…" She thought. "I can't even protect my own family. I don't know even know what to do. I can't go on like this, I just can't…I'll kill myself." And she actually pulled up a single vector and threw it out to cut her own head off. She felt her hand deflect away from the force of the bullet as Jericho aimed the gun at her._

"_STOP IT!" She cried shaking her head furiously. "I don't want to live, I don't want to go on. I lost everything. Please…I just want to die." And she truly wanted to die too, what else was there to even live for? Everywhere she went people would die, her mother had died, her father had died. Soon or later everyone else would. She couldn't bear to see everyone else perish, Lilium, her parents, everyone._

"_Everyone around me gets killed. If I can't do anything, then what's the point of living? I-I…I can't let this happen. I can't. Please."_

"_So killing yourself is going to solve your problems?" Jericho said plainly._

"_Don't you understand. I have to do it. I don't have a choice!"_

_*BANG!*_

_The bullet slammed into the side of her arm with another force to send her flying into the wall opposite of her. She had only barely deflected it with her vector and she was sure that if she hadn't, her left arm would have been gone. He had shot her. He had nearly killed her!_

"_What the hell was that for!?" She roared, completely shocked. The other Siplitets who had been watching had to full heartedly agree. He walked over to her, not even using his cane and she saw for the first time true fury on his face. She for the first time the Diclonius murderer on Isaac "Jericho" Grandes' face and she knew. _

…_That he would be more than willing to kill her right then and there and that there wouldn't be a damn thing she could've done about it. She saw his fist coming, and instinctively threw out a vector. Even though she had been told about his abilities, she still wasn't prepared for his body to dodge her hand and ram his fist into her face. She spat up her own blood managed to lift her head to feel Jericho's own foot slam into the side of her head._

_She landed on her side, her head throbbing maidenly as she looked back behind her. Jericho was walking to her, his face rapt in a furious expression of loathing that just didn't fit him. _

"_Hey wait!?" A female Siplitet said, pulling out her vectors but stopping cold in her own tracks when she saw the barrel of the gun pointing directly at her forehead. Jericho turned back and stepped in front of Ashrina, pointing his Tungsten straight at her head. _

"_Don't you ever tell me you don't have a choice." He growled, his lined face displaying no mercy and neither did his tone. Ashrina gulped, starring down into the black abyss of the gun, seeing his fingers pressed tightly on the trigger. "You would make your mother and father sick." He spat. "Their own daughter committing suicide because she didn't' have a choice? Here's a few choice words from a certain white suited man…_

_Fuck you." _

_He turned his arm around and struck her face with his elbow instead, breaking her nose and leaving a blood trail below her right eye. She shook on the ground, looking up with her one good eye. He had turned his back on her, his gun away but his hand still clenched in a tight fist. _

"_If you ever say such a thing again…I will kill you. If there's one thing I hate, its people who think they don't have a choice. Don't you ever say it again, your mother and father did not give up their lives just to have their own child kill herself. You can't beat Serelia yet, it doesn't mean you can't in the long run."_

_He sighed, picking up the locket that hung from his chest and looking at the picture in it. And she saw it, much like the first time she had ever seen him perfectly embraced in furious hate, she now saw the opposite. It was calm, it wasn't out of hand, but she saw it. The single teardrop falling down his one eye across his cheek that disappeared._

"…_I need to sleep." She said after awhile. "I can't do this now…it's too much."_

_Jericho picked up his cane, she saw that he was gasping slightly. She understood what he meant now about not being in the physical shape to fight. He gave sigh and told her to follow him._

_He brought her to a large hotel, who the Diclonius whom worked in it were more than glad to help her out. Her room was the largest in the hotel and she knew why it was also. But she had to sleep, she couldn't even think properly now. Just to drown out all other sounds, she turned the television on, listening to the show and recalling certain English words that she knew, although most of the words were beyond her comprehension. Her eyes grew dim, and she fell asleep._


	4. Lesson To Be Learned

**Ch 4: Lesson To Be Learned**

_Ashrina, surprisingly slept very well that night. Not a single horrible dream crossed her mind and when she awoke in the morning, she felt much better. It didn't stop her from remembering the past though and she took her time getting out of bed. She looked at the wall in front of her, closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "She's dead…" She said sternly. "He's dead. They won't come back." She had to say it, she had to prove to herself that she could not longer rely on them anymore. _

_But when she did, she imagined their smiling faces, raising her, all the fun times she had with her mother and father. She fell back on to the bed, laying on it and pressing the side of her head on the pillow. "They're…d-dea…" She choked on her words, how could she say it?_

_Willing herself back out of bed, she once again starred at the wall and spoke. "They're dead and they won't ever come back." She repeated but yet she couldn't cope with the fact that her mother and father were dead. Even now she would turn to the door of the hotel room and expect her mother and father to come in, smiling happily. She couldn't take it. They were dead!_

_Dead!_

_DEAD!_

_She pulled out her vector again, the hand coming to her heart. She would have to rip it out, tear it from her body and die before she could let her grief overcome her. She was going to do it, this time Jericho wouldn't stop her. She would kill herself. She would rip her pain straight from her body and die finally free of this agony. She urged herself to do it, got ready and…_

"_This should be good. A suicide Diclonius."_

_She turned abruptly on the spot, gasping when she some a man leaning casually against the wall in what was perhaps the most arrogant and elaborate outfit she had ever seen. Perfect white suit accompanied with white pants and white tie. His eyes a light hazelnut shade that displayed an smug look of deep unconcern. He looked quite frankly like the epitome of "a son of a bitch." _

"_Who the hell are you?" She demanded, knowing that perhaps she shouldn't be so rough on this man whom she didn't even know. However he looked so damn arrogant she couldn't help but hate him. He also seemed quite familiar, as if she seen or heard something related to him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it though. _

_The man's own concern with her was rather light. If he hadn't spoke before, she would have assumed he wasn't even paying attention to her. He lit a quick cigar, making the room hazy and uncomfortable before literally biting into the cigar and chewing it up. Letting the smoke naturally come out of his mouth before swallowing. It wasn't exactly a healthy thing to do at all. _

"_Ridini Ashrina…" He said, causing the young girl to raise her eyebrows. "Yes?" She said angrily, wondering just what the hell this had to do with anything. "Why don't you get to the point? Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing in my room?"_

"…_Like mother like daughter. She too constantly bitched about every single fucking thing that was wrong in her life. It must be a Diclonius thing. But very well, you want to know who I am? I'm the one who fucked up your mother's life and killed her mother and father. I am a god, a monster, a man. But for your sakes you can just call me by given name._

_Kakuzawa Torino."_

"…_You…are…" The words escaped her…and she had to think carefully on this, but when it came, it came like fireworks. "YOU'RE THE BASTARD THAT HURT MY MOTHER!!! I FUCKING HATE YOU!!" She shrieked as he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, you and everyone else. Again, tell me something I don't know you insufferable bitch."_

_He was such an asshole. She didn't even know him and neither did he but he being just the worst person she could ever imagine. She wasn't sure if she hated Serelia or him more, although to give him credit he hadn't killed her entire family. Oh wait…_

"_YOU KILLED MY GRANDPARENTS?!" She shrieked in utter shock and outrage. "That's right…" He said plainly as if he did such a thing on a regular basis. Which wasn't exactly a lie either. "Shot them dead for being incompetent assholes and not backing away. They thought they could protect their daughter, fucking good that did. But that's all in the past."_

"_I-in the past?" She stammered. "What right did you have to hurt my mother her my grand…!?"_

_*Snap!*_

_The snap of the fingers was the casual part, Ashrina falling to the ground screaming was not. Her gut was on fire, twisting and burning as was her head. It was awful, an incredible pain bursting from her very body. It didn't last long, but she was still left gasping and looking up at him. "What the…hell was that?" She muttered._

"_That's for being a loud mouthed bitch. Now shut the fuck up and let me speak._

"_WHY YOU IDIOT!"_

_*Snap!*_

_She fell again, her vectors flying out only to disappear when he snapped his fingers again. She remained on the ground, unable to get up as his foot slammed into the back of her head, keeping her rooted. She shuddered with fury._

"_What a pathetic piece of crap." He spat on her head, enticing her rage even more. She pushed him off with her vectors, getting up and looking at him most murderously. He brushed his suit where the vector had pushed him. "You are pathetic." He said and she barely comprehended what happened next before it hit her. Torino's left side had exploded into a swollen arm and slammed her into the wall. Then right through. She yelled as the arm slammed her repeatedly into 5 separate rooms, the guests crying out in surprise._

_She felt the arm disappear from her body as she shook in the debris of the 5__th__ room. As she opened up her eyes, she saw Torino walking to her, that wicked arm forming back into his white suit as he stood over her, frowning, completely unimpressed with how she had done._

"…_You were going to kill Serelia?" He asked. As if to prove something she nodded. "That's right. I will kill her!"_

"_Well then we might as well all just commit mass suicide in that case. Weak as you are."_

_She gasped. "How dare you!" Her vector shot out, yet somehow, despite her attitude, her killing intent wasn't as deep. Torino dodged to the left, the vector passing by his side without harm leaving young Ashrina to stand startled. "Y-you can see them?" She muttered._

"_What, vectors? No. You're just an open book. I guess I need to explain that though. Understand this Queen Ashrina…"_

_The mere words brought a furious breach to her mouth which opened to retort back. She never got the words out though as Kakuzawa's swollen hand had slammed into her jaw, effectively shutting her up. "That's another thing." He said coldly, squeezing his long appendage tightly around her jaw, keeping it from moving. "This might be new to your Diclonius so I'll say it as easily as your feeble little mind can handle."_

_He cleared his throat, and said in the most robust amount hate filled spite she didn't think was possible for someone to say. _

"_YOU'RE MOTHER IS FUCKING DEAD! YOU'RE FATHER IS FUCKING DEAD!" He spat and roared the words right at her like a spear. Much like a spear, it hurt her soul more than any physical wound. He said it without concern, without regret. He slammed her repeatedly into the wall, again and again, her own feeble attempts of attacking were nothing to his power. When Torino's arm brought her out of the wall for the 12__th__ time, her body mangled and bleeding he shook his head disappointedly. "Diclonius." he muttered with ill aversion, chucking her back into the next room. The commotion, obviously had started to bring in a few people now. _

"_This is a first. Aren't you Diclonius supposed to be natural killers, I thought there was supposed to be a Voice inside of your head, yapping constantly for you to kill humans and have sex with the King. What's going on with you?"_

_What was one anger reversed into surprise. "V-voices? I don't know what you're talking about?" Ashrina said definitely._

"_What?" Torino mumbled. "Stop messing with me you little shit. The damn Voice in your head. Surely you've heard something as old as you are!" _

_Yet she shook her head, leaving him somewhat dumbfounded._

"…_You've never heard any Voice inside of your head that wasn't your own? I couldn't get the damn voices in my head to shut up for over two years. Yet here you are not hearing a thing? Well that might explain the lack of intent to kill. I didn't think there was anyone more pathetic than 7, but you just hit first place."_

_She struggled to get up, glaring at him though even she had to admit it. She was doing rather poorly right now. Torino crossed his arms looking down at her with unsympathetic eyes as no less than 15 Siplites had rushed in. "Torino!" They roared, earning a quick "shut up" from the white suited man. They looked from him to the bloody Ashrina and managed to conclude the correct answer. Of course by the time their vectors even reached half way they had all fallen to the ground from the quick snap of his finger. _

"_I really hate Diclonius." Torino grumbled, rolling his eyes. "And here I am, the monster, Kakuzawa Torino, heartless. Trying to help your kind out. I must have lost my goddamn mind. I'd kill Serelia myself but unless my mind is connected to something powerful, like the S.S. Diclo, I couldn't beat her pure form. Only you Ashrina can beat her. But that's not going to happen with you being a pathetic bitch."_

"_Hey! Don't you call her a…" A male Siplitet ranted before Torino gave an audible sigh, reaching into his pockets and pulled out a simple hand gun. "Oh fuck this shit." He muttered and fired it upon himself. He blew half of his head clean off from the mere fact that he was getting bored with them. His body fell with a thud, twitching and leaving Ashrina and the others to stare, mouth agape._

_She saw his head form back into the skull, his brains twitching back inside of his skull, his skin overlapping until his head became good as new again. "You're done right?" He said. "I'd rather not have to listen to your constant whining. I listened to that when I worked at the facility."_

_They remained quiet._

"_Good. Now Queen Ashrina…"_

"_DON'T…"_

_*Snap!*_

_She screamed, causing the other Diclonius to rush at him before they too fell. "Stay out of this you worthless punks." He roared. "Queen Ashrina, no matter how you look at it, that is the case. I want you to know something, I only help you because it will mean getting rid of Serelia. I hate you, just like I hated your mother and my own regret with her death is the fact that I wasn't the one to commit it. I refuse to stand by and watch some fucking Diclonius make a world against a god."_

_He reached down, picking her up by her throat and holding her up in mid air. She spluttered her words, trying to retort. "…I hated your mother more than any person in the entire world but I will give her this. She was a very powerful Diclonius, one worthy of the name Queen. You on the other hand…well you're just an ironic mistake. Daughter of the Queen of the Diclonius and a Superhuman."_

_Torino turned around. "I'm going to be sick if I stand around you any longer. Let me give you some advice. Unless you can get your act together, go and shoot yourself." With those, rather disheartening words he stepped out of the broken hotel, giving people a "What do you want?" look as they all watched dumbfounded as he left._

_Jericho was sitting on the bench as Torino came out. "My body managed to regenerate only a few weeks ago and I come to find that thing." He muttered. "I also find that you've changed quite a bit yourself." He said, sitting on the bench next to Jericho._

"_Age. I see it hasn't happened to you." Jericho replied._

"_Hm. Ever since I regenerated my body hasn't aged, mainly because of my regeneration. Now…I just don't know what to do anymore."_

"_What do you mean Torino?"_

"_I made it my life to make Diclonius suffer. I made it my goal to make Celia suffer and now that she's dead I…" He stopped, looking at the ground. "…Well it doesn't matter." _

_Jericho said nothing. He merely watched as Torino walked away._


	5. Hurt

**Ch 5: Hurt**

"_Alright, let's get one thing straight here."_

_They were outside in a field, the grass swaying lightly in the breeze. Ashrina was in a crouched position, waiting for whatever attack would come as Kakuzawa Torino stood with a bored expression on his face as a Siplitet yapped at him. _

"_We're going to be right here, and if we see you do anything to Queen Ashrina that's too dangerous. We will kill you." The other Siplitets around her nodded in agreement. Ashrina shuddered when she was referred to as "Queen" but kept her composure intact. She wasn't sure how it had started, all she knew that Torino had brought her to this grassy area, away form civilization and the other Diclonius had come to help her. Or more likely to protect her. Torino objection was to help her attain her killing intent and reach her pure form, yet somehow the word 'help' was synonymous with the word 'kill.' _

"_Queen Ashrina." Another pipped in, glaring angrily at the hated enemy of the Diclonius. "You don't have to do this, you don't have to listen to this bastard. We can find another way."_

"_No you can't. Unless she can get over her fucking fear, she will never be able to win. Now shut up and let me handle this." As usual the Diclonius opened his mouth to retort but silenced himself as the man raised his hand, his finger and thumb together. "Do not test the patience of a god." Kakuzawa muttered. "For years I have heard your kind screaming and yelling and it's really gotten on my last nerve." He turned to the girl, who tensed, expecting an attack at any moment. She had agreed to this, she wanted to be stronger, she wanted to kill Serelia and avenge her family._

"_Bring it." She muttered. Oh and he brought it alright, two arms sprouting from his side, rushing in to attack. She concentrated, her vectors forming and jumped into the air. Torino's appendage flew up, surprising her by grabbing her ankle and bringing down. She screamed as he turned, holding her ankle tightly as he swung her around like a lasso. He let go, letting her fly and hit the ground, stumbling until she slid across it on her face before she stopped shaking. It was a testament to their own patience that the Diclonius didn't go and attack Torino just then. Ashrina meanwhile was coughing, struggling to get back on her feet._

_It was the third day since she had met the most evil man to Diclonius. He had agreed, much grudgingly to try and help her get into a position where she could defeat Serelia. Needless to say she had been failing horribly and Torino had gotten to the point that was clearly fed up with her. Did he think she could beat him, no. But he expected her to at least try and by try, at least hurt him. He had expected too much he assumed as he watched her pitiful self try to get her act together. He had thought that being the daughter of Celia she would be cold and powerful. Instead he got this, a girl who was so wrapped in her own emotion._

_Emotion. What an idiotic concept. _

"_Are you ready?" He muttered._

"_Wait…I."_

_*BAM!* She threw up her blood, her gut burning with pain from Torino's swollen fist that had slammed into it. She collapsed, gagging and turning screaming to high heaven. "Wait?" Torino said with a shadow over his face. "Serelia isn't going to wait and I won't wait. Now get up."_

"_I can't…" _

"_THEN YOU WILL DIE! JUST LIKE YOUR FUCKING MOTHER!" He roared, enticing her wrath once again. She shrieked every known curse word she knew, but that didn't stop Torino from bashing in her face with his arm, leaving her in a huddled bloody mess on the grassy ground. He rushed in, his face twisted as he grabbed by the arm and threw her directly into the nearest boulder which from the force, cracked in two. She slid idly down, leaving a red smear and panting heavily._

_She lifted her head just in time to see another fist strike her across the face. "GOD DAMMIT FUCK YOU!!" He screamed, demented. He seemed to have lost control of himself, he was mad. He hit her again and again and she was to beaten to even try and lift her vectors. Again she was thrown away, her body sliding across the ground where if she hadn't been seen breathing, she might've been thought to be dead._

"_That's enough!" A Siplitet muttered her vectors coming out. The white suited man turned, wrath feeling his eyes as he snapped his fingers producing energy far more lethal than usual. The girl didn't scream, only because the effect had been so terrible she had fainted on the spot. "Do not get in my way Diclonius." He articulated coldly turning back to the fallen Ashrina. _

"_Diclonius. You have no idea how much I hate your kind. I can't stand looking at you, seeing those forsaken horns on your head. I'm done with you, you can't win." He was about to send his hand out again and felt a blow to his midsection. He felt himself flying in the air as he was bisected by an unknown force, entrails flying past him. He hit the ground clenching his teeth to get rid of the pain that was running through his body. Ashrina's face was set in pure shock, so he realized that she didn't have a clue of what had happened._

"_Lucy-sama!" The Siplitets said._

"_Of course." He thought angrily, flexing his lower muscles until in a spray of skin, flesh and bones his lower body reformed, complete with clothes and everything. Sure enough as he picked himself up, he saw her standing there with her vectors outstretched a truly lethal glare in her eyes. _

"_Lucy?" Of course Ashrina was surprised, she wasn't even supposed to be here. She was supposed to be in Japan. "What are you doing here?"_

"_My family can't stay in Japan anymore, we actually moved here two days ago and I happened to speak to Jericho. I can't believe he actually let someone like you meet Ashrina. I hope he isn't going senile."_

"_Is that so, and what are you going to do about it?" Torino muttered calmly._

"_I want to speak to Ashrina."_

_Kakuzawa shrugged his shoulders stepping aside. "Feel free, she's pissed me off too much for me to care. I don't see any hope for her at all. She's pathetic." He spat the last words out. Lucy shook her head. "Just as cruel as usual. Just like your father." _

"_Again, I'll ask you not to compare me with Genshuru. I hate being compared to that worthless man. Also, you're one to talk about being cruel I could say the same thing about you. Ha. Cruelty, you Diclonius are such jokesters." Lucy didn't find anything funny though. Stepping to the side so she faced Kakuzawa at an angle, her next words were carefully thought out._

"_Cruelty has many forms, but at least I've made my amends." Lucy said strongly. "What don't you get? You hurt us, you killed us and you think we'll ever forget it? Why can't you just have one single ounce of remorse and just say your sorry. You don't even have to mean it, but why can't you just say the words? Just as a passing message."_

"_None of you understand…" Torino though. "You just don't understand how much it hurts me to see your happy smiling faces. You don't know how it pains me to see smiles from families knowing that I never had such a thing. Then they yell at me, scream their rage. They tell me how cruel I am, how much of a monster I am. _

_That's right._

_Why should I have to live in this world unhappily, I'll drag you all down to the pits of hell myself."_

_His mind wondered into the past. How Celia, despite all that he had done to her had actually written his name on that massive arched tomb. Lucy, who despite all he said seemed to believe that he actually had a heart. They had…if only slightly, if only an infinitesimal amount. Forgiven him._

"…_And they don't have a clue" He thought._

"…_How much they're hurting me when they make such a claim."_

_He didn't answer Lucy's question, he didn't even look at her. He turned away sighing deeply. He didn't bother giving a retort or making an explanation. In fact he didn't seem to want to speak. He was done for today and he walked silently away._


	6. True Nature

**Ch 6: True Nature**

"_Lucy-san?" Ashrina mumbled as Torino walked away struggling to get up but the pain kept her from doing so. The Ex-Queen walked over to her, her face melancholy as she bent down head level with Ashrina. "Don't worry, those wounds will heal naturally in a day." Ashrina was still trying to get her mind in check, everything was a blur. "But…" She muttered before Lucy silenced her with a finger to her mouth._

"_We had to leave, they were looking for my family. A day after you left the Japanese Government once again fell to Serelia's Diclonius. I couldn't risk my family there and this was the only other place I knew about."_

"_So…Kouta and Lilium are here too?" She asked._

"_Yes."_

_Ashrina might have been happy, joyful. But that would mean…_

"_No. Serelia is looking for me, and that other girl. You all can't be here with me, it's too dangerous. Please you can't do this, I won't let you die just to help me!" She couldn't believe they were here, in America near her. They were going to be killed!_

"_NO!" She screamed. "I WON'T LET YOU OR YOUR FAMILY DIE BECAUSE OF ME!" _

_Lucy shook her head. "I know what choices I have made as does my husband. We have agreed on this."_

"_What about Lilium?"_

"_No matter where we go, danger will follow us. Serelia is by far the most lethal and strongest Diclonius that I have ever known. I have never felt such dark energy produced from her and have never seen such a dark creature. She's just like I was."_

"_What are you talking about?" Ashrina exclaimed. Lucy could be give the cold shoulder sometimes. She could even be dark at points and give off a frightening feeling when she was angry. But she never imagined the mother of her best friend as being a sadistic, family killing monster._

"_Ashrina, I don't like talking about it but long ago, before I met Kouta I was very unhappy with my life. I…killed a lot of people."_

"_That's not true." Ashrina said in horror._

"_It's true. I killed, many just because I could. I deeply regret what I did before." Ashrina bowed her head. Well, it could be worst._

* * *

_The Next Day_

_Ashrina had awaken to find that all of her wounds had healed just as Lucy as said they would. She arrived in the location of the grassy hill from yesterday along with 8 other Siplitets. They were keen on coming with her as protection and to serve The Queen. She had stopped crying when they mentioned the word but she still didn't like being referred to as it. She was just Ridini Ashrina. Last night had been terrible, dark dreams slicing through her mind. Serelia and the one girl killing her mother and father, shedding blood everywhere. It was all her fault, all Serelia's fault. She would never get over this unless she could right the wrong done to her and her family. She had, for everything that had happened…kill Serelia._

_Lucy and Torino were there, the latter not even facing her. Lucy stepped forward as the Siplitets gave a respectful bow of their heads. "Ashrina. This isn't going to be easy and you know that right?"_

_She nodded._

"…_You're the only one who can kill Serelia and not because you have superior power. As a Queen I too have the power of the pure form. I can rival Serelia and if I would say that Kakuzawa over there could rival her too, depending on the circumstances. You have suffered the most from Serelia, it's only fair that you should be the one to take her down."_

"_Bullshit." Torino muttered which earned him a long hiss of frustration from the other Siplitets. "That girl couldn't kill the engine of a car. If I can find a powerful weapon to fuse my mind with, I'll tear that Voice up."_

_Ashrina had been about to retort but Torino's last sentence had confused her. "What do you mean by a Voice?" She demanded. "The Voice you idiot." Torino responded angrily. "You know, that fucking thing inside your head which constantly tells you to kill humans. Don't you remember?"_

"_No. Lucy, what's he talking about?"_

_Lucy was a bit lost for words herself. Long ago she had listened to her own Voice but later got rid of it when she found Kouta and happiness. "It's…something that's in our head, as a Diclonius."_

"_Of every study that I did at Institution 'A' all Diclonius ended up listening to the Voice inside of their head. The Voice acts like a subconscious thought a second mind. It shares the same wavelengths and properties."_

"_Why don't you say it in a way we understand." Ashrina growled._

"_It means your twin got fucked up during birth." He retorted making Ashrina snarl in response. "Voices originally acted merely as a subconscious thought in Diclonius, an evolutionary item. Somewhere along the biological line humans and Diclonius might have gotten into a disagreement. This Voice, as best I can tell is an evolutionary benefit. This is why Diclonius want to kill humans."_

"_With the way you humans treated us, it's no wonder." One Siplitet pipped in._

"_However Celia brought up the most interesting case. Her own Voice manifested its own thoughts beyond her own and gained sentience much greater than known Voice. She had her own mind and revenge. Killing humans is a primal instinct for her, and making a world of Diclonius is all that matters."_

"_This is too much for me." Ashrina mumbled, shaking her head lightly. "Can we just…get back to helping me out?"_

"_Alright Ashrina." Lucy said calmly. "There's no other way to put this, you can't be you cheerful self against Serelia and you know it. There's only one way to put this, you need to be blood lusted. You need to really be able to kill."_

_Ashrina shuddered, sure she had thought many things but when it came to killing. Somehow she always imagined fighting Ashrina as just her winning. She didn't think of how she would beat her. She just won. "I want you to look closely Ashrina." Lucy said solemnly and Ashrina felt a burst of Diclonius energy hit her. The wind was kicking around the Ex-Queen, blowing her hair around her face. The Siplitets were pushed down by the force of the energy and win and Ashrina too felt to her knees. Only Torino was standing, his face smug and unconcerned as the wind blew his hair and tie around. _

_Lucy's eyes became pitch black, her horns extending over her hair. With a rush of power Ashrina and the other Diclonius saw 50 vectors explode everywhere, rising into the air until they wrapped and surrounded them. They were impressed to say the least._

"_This is the Pure Form of a Queen." Lucy said to Ashrina. "This is what you have to get if you ever want to beat Serelia. Even then it still won't be easy."_

"_Even with that…" Torino muttered. "…She lacks the skill and bloodlust to even take on a Siplitet. It's a losing battle."_

"_Well then, why don't you help her." Lucy had said the words cockily, causing Torino to raise his head at her. "Is that so." He didn't say it as a question, he made it as a statement. "She has to learn one way, and since I'm the last known Queen, she can learn from me. How to fight and how to kill. Of course I'll need a guinea pig to test myself on." She was smiling, quite coldly too, her black irises burying into the hazelnut ones. Her vectors swarmed around her, creating a vast vortex._

"_Is that so?" Torino said, his own dark smirk playing across his face. "You…fight me? Come to think of it you've gotten into disagreements with my entire family. It's on fitting that I should fight you too. Elfenliar Lucy."_

"_Watch me carefully Ashrina." Lucy said as Torino turned towards. "Watch my every move and learn anything and everything that you can."_

_Torino stood there and let his dark energy soak through the air. It was pollution, a terrible energy in which Lucy had to keep herself conscious through pure willpower. Her smile had lessened a bit as she watched Torino's face mix together so that six slanted eyes glared at her. She wasn't frightened but she had to admit it was much harder trying to threaten someone who could affectively bring her to her knees with a snap of his fingers. All the while the other Diclonius stood holding baited breath, waiting the outcome. They trusted Lucy, believed she could win but even they knew that Torino was no longer a joke. Hell, he was never a joke to begin with but now…well good luck to Lucy. _

_Ashrina was in a mixed state of mind. She wanted to learn and hoped to see Torino get pounded into the dirt, but she didn't want Lucy to get hurt. She and the others were told to step back by Lucy, a dark gleam traveling across her face. At this Torino actually let out a short chuckle. "Queen Lucy, how remarkable. I can sense that dark personality you once were so famous for. How well do you think you'll manage to do against me though? _

"_Well enough." She replied smiling, quickly wiping of Torino's own smirk from his face._

"_I hope you remember that when I murder your daughter." _

"_!"_

_Lucy had been caught completely off guard by this statement. That and the hand that had shot from Torino's side and grabbed her by the face. The fingers were warm and sickly as if the energy Torino produced was being pumped into her very system. Torino chucked her into the air, the force of it sending her flying meters into the sky. Kakuzawa threw out more arms from his body, pressing them into the earth as he bent down. Their was a unified gasp from the other Diclonius as Torino threw himself from the ground up at Lucy who's momentum had just started to fall. Much like before, Lucy just wasn't prepared or expecting to see Torino come flying at her, fist drawn. A loud crack echoed as she felt the fist slide into her face, pain spreading from the blow. Torino certainly wasn't making it easy on her and she had to get the battle under her control._

_*Slice!*_

_The arm that had punched Lucy was sliced off, the blood spewing out from the wounded appendage as Kakuzawa dropped back to the ground, Lucy landing lithely on her feet next to him. Lucy wiped the small trail of blood running down her lips and leaving no time to waste sent a stream of her vectors at Torino, whom though unable to see them, could sense through prediction that they were coming. He knew at once he had to go into overdrive with his body, and the left side of his body burst open as his own arms met vectors. Torino's arm held her vectors back but Lucy found that, while the pressure was tough, she had an easy advantage over him with her strength. _

"_Too tough?" She muttered and ripped a few of his appendages off, letting them drop to the ground. "Damn it." The white suited man muttered before more of his arms were sliced off like a knife through butter. Lucy realized what Torino had been talking about. As a Pure Form Queen she held both the physical and distance advantage in the fight. Since Kakuzawa Torino did not have these two highly important advantages, he had to resort to using more powerful weapons in his favor._

_Of course what he lacked offensively he had defensively. Lucy knew that she'd be hard pressed to take a full blow from Torino's attack unguarded and shake it off with a flick of her head. If there was one thing Torino definitely had in his favor it was his regeneration and superior stamina. Quite honestly she knew that her largest advantage was her advantage with distance. She could keep Torino at bay._

"_Oh shit!" She had seen those finger and thumb touch too many times not to know what was going to happen. So for the first time, since she now knew what would happen, she concentrated to keep it from happening._

_*Snap!*_

_Somehow it was harder trying to resist than just letting the effects overcome her. That sickening feeling throughout her body, the pain exploding through every nerve in her body. Yet even though her knees buckled and she lost her balance, she didn't fall. Lucy clenched her teeth, and put her vectors down to keep her balance, all the while giving a cold hearted stare at Torino. The former narrowed his eyes._

"_You managed to take my aura without falling. This is a first." Torino said nonchalantly. _

_*Snap!* _

_Lucy stumbled but kept her cool, sweat pouring down her face. The pain had lessened but it was still enough to keep her vectors from functioning properly. _

_*Snap!*_

_It was hard, but now it was getting easier. It was uncomfortable but not painful. She let a smile cross her lips again. "That won't work on me anymore." She replied, her lips spreading to produce a small grin. She let her vectors rise, their power overflowing her. Their strength superior as was their range, what hope did that man possibly stand now? _

_He raised his hand, 6 arms sprouting from his body as their forefinger and thumbs pressed together. "Then let's kick up of the pressure!"_

_*SNAP!*_

_There was a loud single snap and Lucy felt what quite possibly was hell running through her veins. She fell to her knees clutching her gut and screaming to high heaven. It wasn't even the fact that she wanted to scream, it was against her own volition. It was like the time Crease had cut her vector off. By the time she had even come to her senses she could fell a thick hand grab her by her ankle before she felt the wind rushing past her. Her eyes widened as she saw 3 trees lined in a row coming towards her, and she unleashed her vectors. The trees blew apart in splinters as the arms cut them down. With a quick cut, she ripped the arm holding her leg off. _

"_Enough of this…" Torino muttered, forming the arms back into his body. Lucy noticed that his face had an awkward murderous stare to it. Not in a sense that he was being an asshole, but something actually sinister. Lucy, like so many others who had met Kakuzawa Torino felt a tinge of cold fear running down her spine. She wasn't sure just how much this fight was meant to show Ashrina the power and abilities of a Queen then the fact that Torino just wanted to kill her._

"_Mother!" _

_Lucy looked over as did Ashrina and everyone else. _

"_Lilium!" Ashrina cried as her friend ran over. The young teen stopped and she smiled. "A-Ashrina! Is that you? I've missed you so much." She ran over, giving her best friend a long hug before she turned to her mother and Kakuzawa._

"_Oh…I'm sorry mother, did I interrupt?"_

"_No darling it's fine. We're done for now Kakuzawa." Lucy said, but Torino hadn't said anything, he was instead walking away, in the direction of Ashrina and her daughter._

"_No more…" the man thought. _

"_Lilium, how have you been?" Ashrina said smiling, wanting to hear what her friend had been up to for the past few days. They had so much to get caught up on. "oh nothing much Ashes…I just…"_

_*SLICE!*_

_Ashrina watched in horror as Torino's sickly swollen arm slid through Lilium's body. His swollen hand emerging from the lower side of her back where he had pierced her. He dropped her to the grassy ground where she gagged and twitched, leaving everyone else mortified._

"_YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Lucy screamed, shock erasing all other emotions as Ashrina cried out, rushing over to her friends shaking body. "What are you thinking you bastard!" Lucy shrieked, wanting an answer immediately. _

"_Hm?" Torino mumbled. "What are you talking about Elfenliar? You act like you're under the impression…_

…_that I had given a damn."_


	7. A God's Will

**Ch 7: A God's Will**

"_Lilium!" _

_Ashrina's scream had broken Lucy out of her trance who had been stuck just looking at her dying daughter's body. She whipped her head around, starring directly at Kakuzawa's back and roaring, "Don't move!" The man stopped, the cold rush of wind blowing his suit around. "How dare you…" Lucy muttered, fists clenched as she paid a glance to her daughter. Please let her live, she had to live. Please! The poor girl gave an agonized cry for her mother, reaching out with her hand._

"_It hurts mother…" Lilium moaned, coughing uncontrollably. "Lilum, it's going to be ok!" Ashrina yelled. Why was it that everyone she cared for was dying? What did she do to deserve this pain? _

"_How could you do that to my daughter? How dare you hurt her! I thought…"_

"_What! Elfenliar Kaede? That I had honestly cared for any of you? That I destroyed Brutus for your or Celia's benefit? That I helped you all because I felt remorse? You can't possibly grasp how much I've hated your kind. All of you, always crying when hurt, always happy with your families!"_

_He was seething, his dark energy spreading so wildly that the grass around him had actually begun to whither away. _

"_You have no idea, how much I hate happiness. You don't understand what it's like to have no happiness and then to see your kind cry every day, of every night of every hour of minute of every second. Crying for your fucking mothers or fathers that I'm sure loved you all very much! Crying for your friends and loved ones!"_

"_You fool…I…"_

"_BULLSHIT!" Torino screamed, his eyes widening. "Like you've been through hell? Fuck your life at the Institution! You're life was cruel? No bitch, you don't know torture, none of you know what real unhappiness is. No matter how much pain you were in, you at least had happiness. Whether it was that fucking dog…"_

_Lucy flinched. She hated how is predictions could be so spot on like that._

"…_Or that human girl…"_

_She thought of Aiko._

"…_Or your fucking husband!" His voice had risen even more. _

"_I'll kill every last one of you, for trying to ruin a god's world! My world! You can't possibly comprehend what I have gone through. Never loved by my father, never knowing my mother. Always surrounded by idiots, my asshole father, by foolish brother, my ignorant sister! Always deemed to be the best thing in the world!"_

_Lucy took a step back on reflex. The dying grass around Kakuzawa's feet had sparked, a small firing spreading._

"_There are three things that I hate in this world. People who cry in fear because they're afraid of the unknown, of the inferiority. I despite the weak, the regretful who wished for something better…._

…_And I hate…beyond all else. Diclonius."_

_With a quick turn of his heels, Torino turned to face Lucy, a burning fire radiating in his eyes, matching the flames that kicked around his body from the aura that he produced, the grass smoking and dying around him. There was absolutely no pity in his eyes or his voice. _

"_I will kill Serelia, I will kill Ashrina, you…everyone. I'll turn this into a god's world just as it was meant to be created. This world…is a sickening piece of shit that has to be obliterated."_

"_You…really are a hopeless cause. I actually trusted you." Lucy mumbled, letting the wind kick around her._

"_M-mother…" Lilium cried. _

_Lucy looked over, seeing her girl on the ground, certainly dying!_

"_Are you going to stare angrily at me? Or are you going to help your daughter?" Torino said. _

_Lucy gasped and with a look of pure loathing ran to Lilium. Torino gave a grunt and turned, walking away as he left a burning path of death and destruction along his path, the flames licking his white suit._

"_Lilium, darling." Lucy said, pushing Ashrina out of the way whom was just starring at her friend. Her daughter's eyes were half closed and she was breathing heavily, the ground soaking the blood beneath her. "It's ok darling, I'm here." Lucy said, brining out one of her vectors. She wasn't as good at this as Celia had been, but she still was a Queen. Besides…as much as she wanted to deny it…a wound like that._

_Her vector pressed onto the bloody gore and Lucy found that she was able to start healing it. It wasn't as fatal as she had first thought, dangerous yes, but it could definitely be healed. Ashrina watched amazed as the wound began to close where Lucy's vector was placed and in no time at all there was nothing left but a large scar. Lilium had fallen into unconsciousness but she was also breathing easier._

_Torino sat against the edge of the building, hidden in the shadows. Although he did so only because he did not feel like getting into any predicaments. He could hear the voices of Diclonius, seeking him out, his destruction and death. He wasn't afraid, why would he be? Why should he be frightened of those which could not kill him? But he also knew that making himself notice would not get what he needed. _

_He could no longer stand, this bastardization of the world. _

"_Mama…I can sense her." Ierina said, looking up into cloudy sky. Serelia nodded her head. "Yes, for once she's actually putting out a Queen's energy. But it's very faint, I can only get a slight distinction of where it's coming from. Which means we'll just have to keep going until we find her. Then you'll kill her."_

"_That's right mama!" Ierina said smiling. "She's not fit to be a Queen, is she?"_

"_No she isn't. Just like her worthless mother." Serelia replied darkly._

"_How do you know her mother?" Ierina asked._

"…_That doesn't matte, don't ever ask such a stupid question again." _

"_But…I just wanted…"_

_*BAM!* _

_Ierina felt the blow from her mother's vector hit her square across the cheek, putting in a large red mark across her face. "I told you quit asking such stupid questions!" Serelia yelled, causing her daughter to cower. "You only need to kill the traitors, humans and have sex with a King. That's all that matters, do you understand me?_

_DO YOU!"_

_Ierina nodded her head. "Y-yes mama."_

"_Good. Now come, it's getting late and I fear the lack of killings has made you soft. I can see a small town up a head. We'll go to one of the houses and not only find a place to sleep but also kill what human lives there."_

"…_Yes mama." Ierina said, though somewhat uncertain too._


	8. Mercy Pains

_**Ch 8: Mercy Pains**_

_Lilium was resting peacefully in her bed, her wounds healed but her body still weak. Meanwhile, Ashrina was outside of the room, resting in the living room of Lucy's house. She had tried, and failed miserably in trying to go to sleep. How could she? How could she even think of sleeping at a time like this? Kouta's hand was resting on Lucy's shoulder whom every once in a while would start seething uncontrollably._

"_I'll kill him." She muttered over and over again. "How dare he…try to kill her. I'll tear him to pieces."_

_Ashrina was in perfect agreement. The only thing that was keeping that asshole from getting the most painfully exquisite death imaginable was the fact that Lilium was still alive. She wanted to kill him. She honest to all, wanted to find him, and use her vectors to rip him apart, to the point where he didn't regenerate. Such a man, who held no pity for anyone didn't deserve to live. The man, Ashrina hated as much as she hated Serelia herself. Where was he? Whom was he hurting? What was he doing? In fact, who gives a damn? He had to die. End of story._

"_Lucy…" Ashrina said, surprising the young woman as she had once again gone into another throe of angry seizes. "Yes, Ashrina?"_

"…_Tomorrow, as soon as possible, please help me with the Pure Form. Everyone I know is dying around me and I'm stuck being so weak. I need to be more powerful."_

"_I understand." Lucy muttered, nodding. "In an hour I'll help you."_

"_Mother…?" _

_Lilium had walked in, and she too had a face rapt in seriousness. She looked more like her mother than any other time Ashrina had seen her. She looked healthy, but even then her mother shook her head. "Lilium, please darling, go back to bed."_

"_No mother." Lilium sad sternly. "We're both Queens right? I want to help my friend out too. I want to make a difference in the world as well."_

_Lucy gave a sigh, and against her better judgment nodded. She gave a look of long at Kouta whom either had either gone insane or had realized that this was just part of the life he had chosen. He nodded as well, much against his own better judgment as well. Perhaps it was because he himself could do little in this war._

"_Thank you, mother, father." Lilium said. Her face, set so seriously that Ashrina couldn't have argued. If she wanted to make her life better, she would have to go through some hell. All of them would. Yes, there would be the unknown but the way Ashrina saw it, this was like an obstacle course. Many things in the way, but only one finishing point._

"_I hope Nana is alright." Kouta said after a brief moment of silence._

* * *

_The young Siplitet, after hearing of what had happened took it upon herself to find Kakuzawa Torino himself. Of course she had told the others she had merely left to get food, because she knew they would never agree of letting her do what she wanted. To be honest, she was quite tired of being considered the weak one. The weak Siplitet who wouldn't hurt a fly. It wasn't that she hated being nice, quite the contrary. She loved peace but she could only take so much. She was well known throughout the Diclonius community both as a traitor for Serelia's Diclonius and the friend of the Queen for the other side. _

_So when she stood there in the opening of the street, facing that demented man in the white suit, she was hardly recognizable. Due to being a Siplitet she had aged much in the past few years but what changed most was her expression. It would have made the Past Lucy look rather tame in comparison. Her teeth were grinding together as the wind kicked up around her, which intensified so that a lone car next to suddenly shattered, crumbled and exploded into a burning inferno._

_This was not Kurama Nana. This was a woman, who was more than just a little pissed._

_But of course, what did the god have to worry about? Torino crossed his arms, his face set into a glaring stare in the opposite direction, his back against this formidable woman. The Diclonius had formed a complete circle around them, one to keep Torino trapped and one as a way to keep the other humans safe. Nana crouched slightly, her vectors coming out and pushing deep into the ground, getting ready to push off. _

"_Rash suicide will get you nowhere." _

_Nana gasped in fury as she heard these words. Torino, didn't give a single damn bit about her. He was mistaking suicide for homicide. At last she was ready, the ground cracked under her feet as she sprung at him. Her yells echoed into the city street as her vector formed into a fist and rushed out. Torino ducked, bending down onto one knee and letting the vector slash thin air above his head. He reacted quickly, his left arm swinging behind him and grabbing Nana's right arm. Torino growled, lifting the woman up in the air, before with a loud roar threw her head first into the concrete._

_Gasping and spitting up rubble, Nana jumped to her feet, eyes half crazed with anger as her left arm swung around. Torino sped forward, an arm sprouting from his right shoulder. The plastics of Nana's appendage were just beginning to break, ready to fire the projectile at the man with great speed. Before she could do it however, Torino's sickly arm had coughed the fist, keeping it in place. Nana saw to her shock and horror as her arm exploded into pieces, the pressure of being stuck in place by Torino's hand too much. Her eyes moved to the ground where the pieces crumbled realizing too lately before the fist crashed into her face. Choking on her own blood filled mouth, she hit the ground once in a loud thump before crashing into a parked Chevrolet, the alarm blaring loudly. Undeterred, Torino made a slow, casual walk to the car, looking inside the back seat where Nana laid, breathing heavily._

"_You have killed only once in your entire life." Torino said, pulling the girl out forcibly with one of his long arms, holding her up by her dress in mid air, letting her legs dangle. "However, I am not Chelsea. I am not some person, whom you can just get pissed at because your fucking friend died in front of you, and rip my organs out. I want you to understand something very well Kurama Nana._

"_You…can't…kill…me."_

"_It doesn't matter…" Nana said, determined to be of some use. "I'll find a way to kill you."_

_The answer she received was having her head bashed into the front window of the car, glass cutting deeply into her skin. "Do you want to repeat that…7?"_

"…_I…will…k-"_

_*BAM!*_

_She gagged, the fist sliding into her gut. To say she was losing was an understatement, and the other Diclonius could easily see that. The white suited man reared back, his back imploding and Nana felt 20 brown veined arms wrap around her, smothering her. His body melted around her so that Nana was surrounded by a large dome of skin and mass. She stood there, wrapped up in that dark recess of hell as she saw through the dim light a figure of a face appearing on the veined walls._

"_You're futility is really getting on my nerves" Torino muttered._

_He let the flesh wash around her, bringing her back into daylight as the man reformed into his body again. Nana was on her knees and one hand, panting uncontrollably. She was losing and the other Diclonius were kept at bay, because they were afraid. They were scared out of their minds at this monster, frightened beyond belief. This was a true genuine monster, and what hope was there against a monster who just wouldn't die?_

_His steps were casual and once again Nana felt her body rise into the air as the man picked her up by the back scruff of her dress. Her red eyes turned, starring with malevolence at him. His reaction time was quicker than her vectors, he released her but before her body could hit the ground, his arm swung at and arc, pressing into her chin and the fist sending her upwards. His other arm grabbed her right leg and violently slammed down into the hard concrete. "C-crap!" Nana mumbled, feeling something pulling on her arm. The other appendage came off and now to add insult to injury suddenly found herself being smacked around by her own arm. "Dammit!"_

_Nana's scream were cut quickly off as Torino's hand swung and covered her mouth. Her eyes, widening in horror as he lifted his fingers and gave one loud snap. Merciless. Torino held her mouth shut so that Nana involuntarily spewed blood back down into her own throat. Her body went limp_

"_Now die." To end it, to kill her now, she sent his appendage out to slice her in half. _

"_**Enough Torino!"**_

"_Gah!" His arm dissolved into a sick brown mush. Falling to his knees, he clutched his head, his eyes widening. "…You idiots…stay out of this." He muttered, causing everyone to, for obvious reasons, stare in shock at him. __**"You're the idiot…we all know this isn't what you want. A god? What a joke!"**_

"_Oh fuck off!" Torino said loudly. "I know what I want, now stop interfering!"_

"_**No. Get a look at yourself. This isn't what you want at all."**_

_*SNAP!*_

_Torino had snapped his finger to his head, which had only caused him to yell out in pain and suffering himself. The Voices inside of his head screamed, but their comments were louder than their pain. __**"You are a cruel person, but you are not heartless."**_

_Nana was stuck dumbfounded as Torino argued with himself, his hands wrapped around his head which must have been hurting intensely. "Dammit, I told you all to stay out of this. Stay the fuck out of my life."_

"_**No. We all, every single one of us, knows that you are not an evil person. A real piece of shit yes, an asshole all the way, but not evil. "**_

"_*SNAP!*_

_The voices broke and Torino was left gasping. The sounds were still ringing in his ears as he laid in a huddled mass, his flesh dripping from his back sickeningly. "Shit…" He muttered, reaching out with one of his arms to end Nana's life._

"_**Fool."**_

_He couldn't continue, he gagged, eyes popping before 10 appendages came out of his back. Nana watched as he leapt into the air, hitting the side of a building and his body liquefying around it. Soon, he disappeared and she fell down into unconsciousness._

* * *

_Kakuzawa Torino was struggling to remain on his feet, his vision blurring. The Voices inside of his head were screaming, their voices incoherent but yet he understood every where that they yelled at him. "Shit…" He cursed softly. "Shit…shit…fuck off! I have no need for any of you. Stay out of my head! Get out of my mind!"_

"_**You're one to talk. You made us a part of you!"**_

"_I, can't stand this. Stop yelling at me!" He roared insanely._

"_**What don't you get? We know you better than anybody else, for we're a part of you."**_

_Torino was writhing on the ground, hissing and coughing rapidly. His hands were still wrapped around his head, the fingers clutching around his temple. It was really pissing him off. "S-stop it." He stammered._

"_Q-quit it! Stop it! I am not merciful! I am not remorseful! I h-hate everything. Fuck off! I SAID FUCK OFF!" He was inserting his own dominance upon his mind, overriding the Voices. _

"_I…said…_

_FUCK OFF!" He screamed his curse, his voice shattering the Voices of over 250, muting them, turning his mind back into silence. When the deed was done he collapsed onto his knees, panting. The ordeal had tired him but Torino is glad that the damn Voices have finally shut up. _

"_Now…" He whispered._

"_There are only two people that I have to worry about. Lucy and Serelia. While my defensive capabilities can rival their offensive as Pure Form Queens. I don't have the offensive capabilities to take them on. There's no use in defending if I can't attack in return. Even in my true form, my strength couldn't match their powers. It also seems that my aura doesn't have the effect it used to have either. Since I only regenerated a few months ago since my fight with Brutus, perhaps my aura has died down? No. If anything I'm stronger than before. They've just gotten better themselves."_

_As he thought, he let his mind wonder into the future of predictions. Of course the S.S. Diclo, his original weapon was out of the question, considering it was currently in pieces sunk down into the ocean. As his mind sought out an answer, he discovered that there was used military bunker 2,000 miles away from where he stood in the northern direction. The weapons they possessed would definitely be powerful enough to handle a pure form Queen's vectors._

_It was a wonderful part of his abilities. Regeneration and body manipulation allowed his defense to go untested, but he had always lacked the pure power to handle anything. The ability to connect his mind to mechanical and technological items, truly made him a foe to be reckoned. The kind of reckoning only attained by a god._

* * *

_To anybody else, what Lucy was doing would been though of less as "training" and more as "child endangerment." She was whipping Ashrina and her daughter around like rag dolls with her vectors, beating them senseless. "Concentrate!" She roared. Even if they did achieve the form of a pure Queen, they were not murderers. They needed to know how to really fight like a Diclonius if they ever wanted to defeat Serelia and Torino. Of course, she really wanted to deal with the latter herself._

_Lilium was catching on well, her daughter's expression was actually very similar to her very own when she was a child. She had the potential, she just needed that 'oomph' to really push her over the edge. It still hurt her to use her daughter like this, but at the same time she would rather have Lilium die knowing she could at least try and fight. Then to die, scared and huddled against a wall._

_Ashrina however was different story. She was a lot like Nana, or rather what Nana was like before. She was determined and she had that feeling that she could kill. Yet somewhere in her mind she just couldn't do it. Killing wasn't inside of her, she lacked that blood lusted feeling, to get rid of all emotions and destroy._

"_Nana!" _

_Kouta's voice rang out, causing Lucy and the others to turn to see a Siplitet holding a very broken and bloody Nana. Obviously her welfare was far more important than training, and she rushed over to the girl._

"_What happened?" Lucy demanded._

"…_It…was him." The Siplitet choked._

_She didn't need to bother asking who "him" was. The fear etched chill that was running down that Diclonius' spine could only be caused by a certain man. "Damn you Torino." She muttered, grinding her teeth together. "What happened?"_

"_She…tried to fight him. But, I'm afraid she…didn't have a chance. It was horrible, I've done some horrible things in my life. But I have never seen such coldness from a single man. I thought I would die just by being in his presence." _

"_Nana. I can't believe you would do such a thing." Lucy muttered._

"_You mean…that bastard did that to her!" Ashrina yelled. Her anger was starting to boil over as she just imagined that cold hearted face standing over her body. The wounds she had received, what tortures had he brought her. The dust around her kicked up, spreading like a cyclone. _

"_Ashes?"_

_The young girl calmed down after hearing Lilum's voice. "I'm sorry, but I can't take it."_

"_I know." her friend said kindly. She too, wanted that man to die._

* * *

_There they stood, five of them total in that long hall way. Five Diclonius girls, all around 18 years of age. All of them, once having followed their Voices and killed mercilessly. Then they abandoned it, to find peace with humans. Five Diclonius who had killed long ago so brutally without batting an eyelash._

…_were currently huddled against the wall of the hallway in the presence of Kakuzawa Torino._

"_Are you about done?" He said casually, his torn up body coming together. "Your vectors do not have the power to kill me. Do you understand now, you deluded children? All of you seem to think, that because of those arms of yours, you hold some sort superiority over others. But because of my regeneration, that is gone."_

"…_You, are completely hopeless! You miserable man!"_

"_Whatever. But I think you understand the situation. I am beyond anything…that you will ever comprehend. You are worthless to me, and now I will end your lives."_

"_**No!"**_

_It happened again!_

"_Fucking hell!" Torino roared, obviously giving the Diclonius a bit of a shock. "Why do you all keep interfering? I told all of you to fuck off!"_

_Torino must have gone mad, as far the Diclonius could tell as had suddenly told the air around him to "fuck off." _

"_**We refuse to believe that you want this. You're logic is bullshit!"**_

"_I told you, to back off! What part of that do all of you not understand?"_

"_**Wake up!"**_

"…_haa…dammit." He cursed, glaring at the girls. _

"_Get away…" He growled. "Get out of my sight, before I truly decide to kill you all."_

_They didn't need to be told twice, they scurried away. Now there stood nothing between Kakuzawa but a single door, which he entered. He stood on the outside of the building, the weapons surrounding the base._

_And there stood an obstacle in his way._

"…_It's been awhile. Hasn't it…_

_Isaac."_


	9. Familiarity

**Ch 9: Familiarity**

"_If there was ever a person I did not wish to kill, you would be one of them Isaac. I suggest you turn away and let me pass. I have work to do, one that involves taking these weapons. I will say this only once, get out of my way." Torino said the words coldly though Jericho made no move of retreat. Somehow, even with the powers of prediction, Torino knew he wouldn't have moved. He kept his body tensed, his fist clenched together as he felt more of a threat from this old one armed man, then the entire Diclonius community._

"_You're going to make me do a very rash thing Isaac. I told you, if there was ever a person I did not wish to kill, it would be you. But if you continue to stand in the ways of my goals, I will end your life. Which is something I'd rather not do, considering I'm the one who had you reborn."_

_At long last, Jericho spoke. "This is new, referring to me by my first name. You really have changed, Kakuzawa Torino. For the better or for the worst, I don't know. But your predictions probably already know my answer."_

"_Yes." Torino said nodding. "Then I see no reason to continue this worthless charade of speaking."_

"_Agreed…" Jericho said harshly. "The time is long gone of when I was you guard, the final choice has been made. I don't know what happened to you, but you are no longer the Kakuzawa Torino that I once knew and respected. Now you wile die."_

"_You've changed. That was quite an arrogant statement, and I have never known you to be arrogant."_

"_Perhaps you have finally started to rub off on me. But enough talk, we shall fight. Master and Guard with our own beliefs and ideals. Take no heed, as I pray to thee, oh self created lord. God Kakuzawa, come at me. Let us show the world that importance you wish to attain so much. I, Isaac Jericho Grandes, clone and destroyer. You, Kakuzawa Torino, monster and god."_

_A thin crease appeared on Jericho's face. Then he swung, his quick movement did not match to what his elderly body look like. His hand reached into his pockets as Kakuzawa's arms sprouted from his right shoulder, five of them spreading out and charging forward. Acting on the instinct in his mind, he dodged to the right as he heard the bullet explode from his holster. It was a wise decision as Torino felt the force of the bullet explode against his arms in a massive blast. His arms were no cut off, they were obliterated, destroyed on impact. If such a bullet had hit him head on, the effects would be deadly._

_Jericho rushed forward, his elder heart beating too quickly. The gun clicked, and bullets flew out like a storm, forcing Kakuzawa to dodge. His body's reflexes were inhuman and his mind allowed him to know when and where he would shoot. But such predictions were based upon a vast stream of knowledge. Perhaps there was a way to confuse that prediction._

"_Huh!" Torino was caught by surprised when his predictions saw one thing, catching him off guard. Jericho had turned his body around, pointing the weapon to his own head. Torino wouldn't have believed that Jericho would shoot himself, but his actions were so unexpected it even caught his own predictions off guard. The gun passed by his head, his arm angled and then fired. The bullet missed Jericho's head as it sped forward and Kakuzawa was blasted._

"_GAAAAAAAH!"_

_His entire lower body exploded in a shower of blood and dust, the force of the explosion throwing Torino into the complex behind him. His body crashed through the bricks and metal, the flesh ripping off of his body as Torino struggled to stay in control. He finally stopped in the huddled mass of the rubble, dazed, wounded, but definitely alive. Slumped over in the dark he gave an audible growl of displeasure. "Damn. Customized explosive shells, and they've been tweaked to be even more powerful."_

_Jericho held his gun out, trigger finger ready his chest heaving in and out. It had only been 2 minutes as his body was already beginning to tire. He didn't mind old age, but he cursed his lack of endurance at a time like this. The explosion of the wall in front of him did not slow his mind but instead augmented it, his body, moving beyond its stress and dodging the incoming swarm of swollen appendages. Kakuzawa had his arms swerve around, admitting ungrudgingly that he was not surprised to see his ex-guard dodging the attacks. He sent a stream of his arms into the ground, and Jericho noticed it immediately. Aiming his powerful weapon downwards, a loud explosion riddled the area. The ground was torn apart form the bullet, destroying the arms underneath but not even stopping Torino's movement. _

_The man changed, his body transforming into a grotesque multi-limbed abomination, his size massive and his power increased. The hand reached over, Torino's monstrous form rising over head, throwing a large shadow over the man, who did not flinch, and did not beg for mercy. Jericho aimed with perfect accuracy as the hand came down, and pulled the trigger. Torino cursed, as his arm was blow into a thousand pieces, the blast pushing him backwards, but far from stopping his counterattack._

_Jericho gasped, the pain in his chest reaching new levels. He turned to see the other arm coming at him. He once again fired, tearing the appendage apart with his more powerful bullets. Cursing again, Torino backed away, lowering his bleeding stumps. "Has old age finally gotten to you, Isaac? I think it has, indeed. You're weapons are powerful, more than enough to handle me, but your endurance is not what is used to be. If I had to predict it, you'll only last six more minutes._

…_and my predictions are usually spot on."_

_Torino threw out two arms, crisscrossing them and watching as Jericho ducked underneath them. He brought the right one over, fist rushing to smash Jericho into ground. The old man rolled away, the cracked ground sending him airborne. Concentration, forcing his body to do what it should be doing, Jericho caught his balance, rolled once and jumped to his feet._

_The gun cocked, the black bullet flying straight with perfect aim and slamming into one of Torino's six slanted eyes. The beast roared, the bottom half of its head blown apart, flames licking at the exposed cranium. Jericho aimed his gun at the ground underneath Torino's engorged head, and fired. The dust kicked into his eyes, blocking the monster's vision._

"_Damn!" Torino thought, letting his mind pinpoint what Jericho was doing. He cursed out loud as he saw him put the gun to his head, knowing full well he wouldn't do it, but blocking out the more important details of his plan, whatever that might have been. He was coming at him and Torino instantly sent out a bombardment of arms as the man dipped, ducked and dodged and best as he could. Then, pulling out something from his black coat, he slammed what appeared to be a metallic spherical object right on Torino's spinal column._

_The act of dodging so much on his body was really starting to take effect. Jericho was panting heavily, hand over his chest. There was a moment of pure silence that was broken by a very peculiar sound._

_*Beep*_

_The sound was coming from below, on his spine. Torino's six slanted eyes gazed down at it._

_*Beep*_

_The sphere was glowing…the sphere that was pressed against his spine._

_*Beep*…_

_*Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!*_

"_Shit. You really the most incredible human who has ever existed…Isaac Jericho Grandes…" Torino thought._

_*BOOM!*_

_Spray of skin bone and flesh spread everywhere as Torino's body was ruptured and obliterated in a massive inferno. His roars were still ringing in Jericho's ears as he saw the mass crumble into a heated conflagration of hell. He struggled, and at last his old body could not take the pressure anymore. He fell backwards, breathing heavily and seeing the smoke rise into the blue sky._

_*Step…step….step*_

_He wasn't surprised really. Lifting his head a few inches off the ground, he saw him walking towards him. Torino had reverted back to his original form, the upper part of his white suit ripped and torn exposing a veined, badly ripped and burned chest. Part of his face had been so badly destroyed that Jericho could still see the brain trying to reform. His ribs were showing, the skin desperately trying to reattach itself. The right arm was gone. Breathing sharply, Torino took his few, hurtful strides to the main laying on the ground. The cold hazelnut found the unfeeling silver._

"_That was a very good try. Had you actually hit my head with that bomb, you would have certainly killed me. Has old age made you senile? No. Even I can tell you are not senile, even though I told you to stay out of my way. But it's over now. You're body can't take the pressure and now…"_

_He threw out one of his arms, pinning Jericho's gun arm down forcibly._

"_You were a good solider, an even better man. It is the truth when I say I will pity your death." Torino said the words ominously, creating a hand from his left shoulder. _

"_Goodbye!" Torino roared, throwing the hand down and mere half second later, felt something blow against his face like an incredibly powerful fist. He spat blood out on reflex, his neck bone crack as his head threatened to tear right off. Hitting the ground hard, Torino struggled to get up, eyes glaring hatefully at whoever had done it. His eyes traveled to the spot, finding in his vision a single young woman with long violet hair. _

"_Huh?"_

_He stopped, eyes widening with surprise as he saw her. She wore long lilac dress with green shoes, her violet hair long and hanging over her shoulders. The red eyes starred with a sense of stern realization. _

"…_Well….well…well." Torino breathed. "I must say, of all the surprises to come, this really eats the cake. I was positive that you were dead but judging from what I see now, and from how young you are despite how long that time had been…yes. I see now."_

"_You've done enough Torino. I can't let you do any more. I'm sorry, but I'm going to kill you." The woman said._

"…_Hm? Kill me, you know you aren't the first to say that. Yet, nobody has yet to do such a thing. Usually I'd take your words with a grain of salt, but now…you've really pissed me off. There is a major difference between you and me, so I suggest you back off and hide back into whatever hole you crawled out of."_

"_Torino, you poor man. I wish you could see yourself, of what you truly are. But you're so full of hate you don't even see it, and with the damage your causing. I can't let you live."_

"_You've got some nerve trying to pick a fight with your older brother…Kakuzawa Anna."_


	10. The Infuriation Of Kakuzawa Torino

**Ch 10: The Infuriation Of Kakuzawa Torino**

"_I must say it's rather odd not seeing you as the engorged head floating in Institution 'Z.' Much like myself you must have lucked out and attained your physical body. However, I can also tell that you lack the regeneration and power that I possess. All you have is your little vectors and now your saying you can kill me?"_

"_I will kill you."_

"_How?"_

_Torino's words must have caught her off guard because she didn't answer, her eyes brows coming together in a frown. "You haven't thought much of that have you?" Torino said, smiling coldly as his body began to regenerate the wounds until at last he stood there, hands in his pockets, the white suit perfectly intact and his flesh healed as if he hadn't just had most of his body blown apart. It was good try on Jericho's part, but it wasn't enough to beat him._

"_So tell me, dear sister, how are you going to kill me? I can tell by the surprise in your eyes that you didn't expect me to regenerate. In fact, you don't have a fucking clue on how your going to defeat me, in fact you don't have a fucking clue about anything. You came here trying to act tough and make a difference, but the point is you don't have anything that could take me down."_

"_I…will…" Anna muttered._

"_I admit I admire your courage and bravery sister. To challenge your god of a brother, while idiocy to the extreme is very noble. But nobility will only get you so far. I have taken down Pure Diclonius before, I refuse…"_

_His smile vanished._

"…_To let my shit for a Siplitet sister beat me." The young woman jumped into the air, avoiding the arm that had rushed at her. She hovered I the air, and using her vectors flew back to the ground. She landed on her feet, lifting her head to face her brother. "Hm? I guess you think that makes you impressive." Torino grumbled. He sent another stream of arms out, the appendages crisscrossing and Torino had to grudgingly admit, he was impressed as his sister actually began to duck around the arms, but Torino only increased the pressure._

"_You always did like to run, is that what you're specialty is now. I hated my family, our family! You are no different Kakuzawa Anna! DIE!" His feet left the ground as his arms pushed him off, his velocity catching Anna completely unguarded. Her cries were muffled as his sickened hand grasped her face and brought her hard upon the stone cold ground. She didn't scream, but the pain was blinding as he slid her body in a broad circle, scrapping her back and head against the ground before flinging her towards the rubble of the building. She shot out her vectors grabbing the edges of the complex and slowing her velocity down before she could crash into the building. Her entire back side and back of the head seared but she kept herself on her feet. "Brother…you don't have to do this."_

"_You've got some nerve…you bitch!" Torino cursed loudly, bringing his hand up. "Or do I have to remind you our of superiority sister. You lost your superiority when you were born, and I lost my remorse when I was born. Now tell me, Kakuzawa Anna, tell me right now, in front of me, that you really think you have what it takes to beat me."_

"…_no." She said with a sigh. "But there is someone that can."_

"…_Ridini Ashrina?" Torino muttered nonchalantly, reading her mind. *Snap!* The flick of his wrist and the quick single snap that brought the woman to her knees, she didn't scream as most did, but she held her gut as it burned intensely. Torino began to wonder, just how long she had been watching him. He knew that she was surprised by his regeneration and power, hell she was surprised that he was even alive after all this time. From what he could gather in his predictions, she had found out that Celia had a long standing grudge against him and that Celia had a daughter. She seemed to have fallen under the large category who thought some damn Queen could kill him. It was high time he crushed that category into nothingness._

_Panting, but determined until the end, Anna stood up, her body shaking but her face showing nothing but fierce determination. _

_And it pissed Torino off completely. _

"_FUCKING BITCH!" He roared, hating that determination. Despising the fact, that his damn sister did not get the fact that he did not care. That he had long ago lost his soul into the pits of hell and that he had no redemption. He was fucking sick of people like Lucy and everyone else, thinking that somewhere he had a fucking heart. He was tired, of proving, time after time, that he was a monster. What did he have to do to prove that point? Destroy everyone! It seemed like the options were becoming limited now and quite frankly, he was getting pissed with the world and everyone on it. Nobody understood, what the desires of a god were, and nobody understood that even gods have limits._

_Anna choked on her own blood as she was forcibly and repeatedly, slammed into the ground. "FUCKING WAKE UP!" Torino shrieked, his voice reaching a new octave that might have been though impossible considering his usual deep voice. "I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY A FUCKING DICLONIUS! I WILL NEVER BE BEATEN AGAIN! FUCK YOU!" Every blow he dealt to her, only made him more angry, every splatter of blood enraged him. He saw her, his sister and felt a terrible sense of contempt. All of them, they understood absolutely nothing. The next blow Torino landed snapped Anna's arm. She cried out on reflex but no sooner had she felt the singe of pain that she shut her mouth and remained defiant. _

_And Torino beyond anything saw this as the as an act against his own ideals…it wasn't because she was defiant. It wasn't because she wouldn't scream. It was because she had that forsaken look, as if he could somehow be forgiven. "…You…" Torino mumbled, eyes dilating and shaking with unbeknown fury. _

"_!_

_GOD DAMN YOU ALL!_

_!_

_!_

_!"_

_Roaring, screaming, the breaking of sanity and insanity as he exploded and ruptured out of his body. The massive monster, devoid of everything but himself and his goals sent a single mass at his sister. The girl, wide eyed but brave threw out her vectors and was slammed away nonetheless. The beast flew into the air, rising up and slamming another fist into the young woman, forcing her to smash into the ground. She coughed, she spluttered but she did not fall, she rose, ready to continue fighting. _

_A hand grabbed her by the throat, Torino, humanoid but furious held her up. "I…hate…you." He muttered. "…I hate Diclonius…" He was seething. "…I….fucking….hate….everything. I hate, the fact that you believe that I have hope. I don't know why you won't fucking wake up and see reality." Every word he said…was a breath of madness. "I don't get it, how you can honestly look at me and tell me that I have hope, or remorse or even think such a thing. But you'll never stop thinking it will you?" His hand squeezed tighter, blocking off her air supply. She was about to send her vectors out, but the pain that racked her body when Torino snapped his finger kept her from doing so._

"…_What do I have to do, to make you all understand?" He muttered. _

"_Nobody understands…" His thoughts said to himself. "…How much pain I'm in, and how much they're hurting me when they think that. Nobody gets it that I have fought this egoistical war and lost…_

_I lost it…from the moment I became a true living monster. I've lost…I lost long ago, but I'll never give up, never surrender. I…can't. I just can't._

…

_And nobody…understands…how much I hate myself."_

_Anna dropped to the ground, gasping for air and looking up at the stricken face of her brother. "…This is the last merciful act that you will receive." He said darkly. "…You will die, but not now, I will give you this one act of pity. The last pity of Kakuzawa Torino."_

_He slammed his fist against her head, knocking her unconscious. He looked at Jericho, fallen to the floor who was looking at him, but his body too weak to move. The white suited man, a boiling rage in his body as he went to the weapons bed. Jericho watched, his body limp and useless, while Torino absorbed the guns from the weapon's bed. Powerful bullets which he fused together with his body and mind. He connected with it, forming his body into a liquefied state and covering everything in the brown ooze. He felt an odd pain his body, but his thoughts were also somewhere else. Jericho could do nothing but just feel that pity for the man he once respected as he lost himself in his own self delusion. All sorts of ammo was absorbed, merging and breaking into himself as he became a living weapon._

_The weapons bed was completely deserted and Torino reverted back to his original state, looking oddly complacent now, his eyes uncaring, devoid and concerning nothing. The wind blew his hair and suit around nonchalantly as pulled out a hand. With a flick of the wrist he produced a single black pistol, his hand holding it but also his flesh wrapping around it so that the weapon was also a part of his body._

_The gun disappeared, but Jericho knew that this was nothing compared to what Torino was now capable of producing. He was an entire war constructed in one man. Torino did not give any more attention to the people around him, he casually as if nothing had happened, walked away._

"_Are you alright sir?" Jericho turned his head to the voice, and saw the young woman bending down over him, touching his wounds carefully with her hands. "…You helped me, thanks." Jericho grumbled, pushing himself upwards. Anna had to admit, with the wounds he received on such a frail body she was surprised he could even get up. It wasn't exactly easy though as Jericho only managed to rise to one knee. _

"…_Kakuzawa Anna." Jericho said, looking up at her. "Now I remember you…" Anna said. "Torino's guard who could sense vectors, Jericho. You've aged quite a bit in the past years."_

"…_I see you have not." Jericho replied._

"…_I, found out that my body was safely tucked away inside a shell. I lost my ability to read the future but I remained in my youth. I wanted to remain out of this, but when I saw my brother on that ship, what he became I realized that terrible energy I felt. But it's not the energy that worried me, it was the fact that my brother looked nothing like the person I knew."_

"_You knew your brother?" Jericho's words were not a statement or a question. It was a point to make. Anna looked at the ground. "…I wish I did, but I was too caught up in my own superiority to really see it. Even when I could read the futures, I don't think I ever imagined that my own brother would be hurting so badly on the inside. I was too ignorant to realize just how much my brother hated everything around him."_

"_You never were planning on killing him were you."_

"…_Yes and no. I was more than willing to kill him if it came to that, but I didn't. I knew I couldn't. I underestimated the fury in him. I didn't realize, how much he hated me or Diclonius, or even my father."_

"_I see. Pass me my cane."_

_She handed it over and Jericho struggled to get up, and when he walked, he limped. "I underestimated myself…" He said. "…My body has grown even weaker than I had thought. I don't have what it takes anymore to fight, it seems I'll have to stay on the sidelines. Anna. Do you know what is happening? The war that is going on here?"_

"_Yes, and more than that really. It all started with my father, who so desperately wanted to create a world of Diclonius. I was there when it first began, just like you. It all started with her, the girl who should have killed me. Lucy. Her battles with 7 and 35. Her fight with Bandou and my father. Then there was that one girl, Celia. She fought many people, she killed many and then she changed. I heard that she died how?"_

"_She was killed by a being called Serelia, which was her own Voice manifested in physical form. Celia and Serelia both have a daughter, the former of which has suffered a lot. The death of her entire family for one."_

"…_I am sorry."_

"_What are you going to do then?" Jericho asked._

"…_I need to find my brother."_

"_That might not be such a wise idea. He's absorbed the weapons of the entire bed, he could destroy and entire city with that firepower. I'm not one to deny your abilities, but you just don't have a chance."_

"…_I know. I'm not going to fight him."_

_Jericho didn't ask why. _

"_Thanks for the help. He said coolly. _

"_Yes. Good luck."_

* * *

"_Please…" The old man muttered, raising his hands. _

"_Mama…what should I do?" Ierina asked. Serelia looked at her and wondered why she was asking such a rhetorical question. The question got Ierina a vector to the gut, knocking the air out of her. "How dare you ask such a stupid question, kill him."_

"_Please…" He said again, his voice a breathless whisper._

"…_I…but Mama."_

"_But what?" Serelia growled, walking up to the old man and breaking his right arm off. He didn't scream, but his eyes shut tight. "Kill this human, kill him now!"_

"…_B-but Mama…I know. But w-why?"_

_Again Serelia dealt with her daughter using violence, slapping her hard across the face to the point where she actually spat up blood. "Listen here you fucking little whelp, you will do as I say, when I say and how I say it. Now kill him, or I'll break your arm off!"_

_Ierina committed the deed, but she could not look at that man. "Remember…" Serelia said softly. "…That if you want to make a difference, all the humans and all the traitors must die. Stop being so pathetic."_

"…_Y-yes Mama. AH!" She fell to her knees, gasping and hurting as the worst agony passed over her. She didn't have a clue what it was or where it came from, but it hurt. It was sickening, revolting and vile. Serelia felt it too, the energy turned her gut and she struggled to remain on her feet._

"…_What was that Mama?" Ierina asked, and looked at her in disbelief as he mother indiscriminately smacked her across the face again. "Shut it, it doesn't matter. In fact, we're separating."_

"_What!" _

"_Don't what me bitch. It's time you started to take things in your own hand. I have work to do anyways, and I don't need you holding me back. Find Celia's daughter and kill her. Now."_

"…_Um…y-y-yes. Alright mama."_

_Unsure but at the same more than willing, Ierina ran to the right, afraid that she would be scolded by her mother again. It hurt, her body and her mind and her heart. Maybe if she did kill that girl, she would be happy._

_Serelia stood there in the open of the field, the cabin of the man that was murdered in the distance. The wind kicked up, the dust swirling around her feet and then her power exploded. 100 vectors, not 50 as Celia had once hand, but 100. 40 meters, not 20 like her wretched sister. She had grown stronger than her, better and more powerful than Celia. She had killed her, murdered her. Obliterated her. She was gone and soon her entire family would be dead, as well as Lucy's family. _

"_It's him." She though savagely, feeling the energy. _

"…_Kakuzawa Torino."_


	11. Quintessence

**Author's note: Sorry for the wait.**

**Ch 11: Quintessence**

"_I am scared. I am alone and I am cold. Everyday I shiver because I think one of them is coming after me. I cringe at every sound that I hear, fearful that it is revenge rearing its ugly head around. Oh how I cry and sob and stress and wish that it would end. Mama told me to kill everyone and I've done what she told me. So why am I still here, in this cold rain, struggling? Mama said everything would be alright if I killed the humans but…its not alright. I'm still wet, I'm still hiding in the dark and I'm still very afraid."_

_The hard, cold rain had no intentions of stopping and Ierina, alone in the world, with nobody to look towards, was stuck right in the middle of this hell. Shivering and poor, she watched in hateful envy through the window of a house, a family warm and comfortable. It had always been like this, and now mama had left her._

_No. Ierina might not say it aloud, but her mother had done a lot more than just left her. She had beaten her, insulted her and left her alone I this world. She didn't care about her, she didn't want her, she had her own priorities. Forsaken by her own mother, it was enough for Ierina to curl up into a ball, out there in the alleys in just sob. She didn't even know herself anymore, she didn't have a single friend to go to. Ierina, shuddered in the cold wetness and envied it all, the warmth, the love and the compassion. She remembered, when she had come to kill that girl, her father. How close she was to him. She didn't know her own father, she had been told that he been killed by some bastard named Kakuzawa Torino. She knew nothing of this man but she knew that when her mother had mentioned the name, a strange sense of foreboding had overcome her mother._

"…_I'm so miserable…" She though pathetically, trying to keep herself warm by merely wrapping her arms even more tightly around herself. _

_It was all her fault! That stupid girl, she made this happened, she was the reason she was hurting so badly._

"…_I…I'll kill her…" She whispered, too much happening at one time, and she fell asleep._

* * *

_The quick pitter-patter of the raindrops was oddly calming to Ashrina as she slept in the bed. She could hear her friend Lilium's light snores on the other bed, clearly oblivious to the rain. But there was a reason she had woken up in the middle of the night and had yet to fall back asleep yet. She had once again, dreamt of her mother and father and the loving care they had always given her._

_She didn't cry, she had long managed to control herself in that aspect, but her heart never felt so broken before. Now that she thought about it, she never did know much about her mother or father's history as they always felt rather uncomfortable mentioning it._

_Getting up silently as to not wake up Lilium, she went into the living room of the house and sat in the chair resting her head comfortably against it. All this anger, all this regret ended with her. Serelia. She wanted to kill her._

_No. Killing her would do nothing._

_She wanted to hurt her and make her see the error of her ways. She wanted to make her pay in everyway so that Serelia understood that she should have never messed with her family. She wanted to do much more than kill her. But she was so weak…_

_So very weak._

_How could she possibly stand up against her?_

"_Ashrina?" _

_Lucy's whisper came from the door way next to her, wearing a nightgown with her hair oddly plastered against her face. "Why are you up so early Ashrina." Lucy asked. "Is something wrong."_

_Sighing deeply, Ashrina pushed herself up so that she was leaning over the chair. "Nothing that wasn't wrong before." She said sadly. _

"_Is there anything you want to talk about?" Lucy said. Having been a mother and a different person altogether, Lucy had learned to take others into consideration and listen to them in the hopes of making them feel better. Far different than the cold blooded teenager she was long ago. Ashrina knew what she wanted to ask and was actually glad Lucy had brought up the question because she wasn't sure if she had the confidence to ask first._

"_My mother and father, they never told me much about their history. I, want to know what it was like, everything." Lucy narrowed her gaze, seemingly uncomfortable with the situation. "You're mother, Celia told me about herself long ago but I'm not sure if you'd really like to hear it."_

"_I do."_

"_I don't think you really understand Ashrina. You need to imagine someone other than your mother and Celia was very good person, with a very good heart. But she wasn't always like that." _

_Ashrina opened her eyes wide. How much did she truly not know?_

"_Lucy, it's now or never. At least let me know my own family's history."_

_Sighing deeply, Lucy sat in a chair, the scene feeling very much like the time she had talked to Celia about herself, the day when she had first come to them, her memory lost and innocent._

"_I only know what Celia told me long ago, but here's how it is. When you're mother was very young, her parents were killed by Kakuzawa Torino and she was taken to one of the Institutions. You wouldn't know this, but before you were born humans and Diclonius…well…we didn't get along well. We constantly tried to kill each other in a brutal war. In fact, I was one of them too. I grew up in an orphanage where people would constantly pick on me and then one day. I found a puppy and showed it to a person I thought I could trust. She betrayed me and these children, they beat the puppy to death before my own eyes._

_I lost it. I killed them and from that point I held a deep grudge against humans and then I met Kouta. He was the only person who never looked at my horns as a freak. He cared for me and loved me for as long as I could remember but I was also jealous. When I saw him hugging his cousin, I thought I had once again been betrayed…I killed so many people. Then I did the unthinkable. I killed Kouta's father and little sister, an act that he never once forgiven me for. I struggled for so much of my life until Kouta came and I finally found happiness._

_Celia was the same. She was born, if I recall as Chiba Celia and what happened to her was the same with me. She hated humans because her life was torn apart by them. She was stuck inside that awful facility. Let me tell you this Ashrina, that place is horrible, a true nightmare for Diclonius as they lead tortures and experiments on us. I might say that with Torino there, it was even worst for Celia. _

_She escaped and her wish to kill humans was great, perhaps even greater than mine. But she got into a fight with Jericho soon after and…"_

"_What? Jericho fought my mother?" Ashrina interrupted, finding it difficult to see the old man fighting with her mother._

"_Remember this was long ago, over two years before you were even born. From what I remember, Jericho used to be Torino's Head Guard sent to find and take Celia back. That apparently didn't work and instead he knocked a third personality into her. A kinder Celia who Nana found and brought her home. To say the least, I was a bit hesitant in letting her stay. Even with Nana there, I wasn't too sure on the idea of a kind Diclonius. But she proved to be so helpful and innocent…and that shattered._

_These three Diclonius girls came two of which I killed and one of them got into a fight with Nana. The girl killed Nana's best friend and Nana in return killed the girl. Poor Celia, saw all of this and snapped, returning back to her original dark form. She ordered the Diclonius who followed her to kill everyone. I and Nana were left dealing with the Diclonius and Celia left to fight Torino and Jericho. She won her battles and then we fought."_

"_You and my mother…?" Ashrina muttered._

"_Yes, it was a hard battle and I probably would've lost until this small child came up to her and gave her a stuffed animal. Celia told me, that the last thing she ever got from her parents was on her birthday, a small stuffed animal. The child changed your mother's life and she finally found salvation with humans. You're mother changed everything, she helped carved a path where humans and Diclonius could finally be together._

_She was one of the kindest and purest girl I ever knew and she died trying to save you and make a better world. However…and I don't want you to think bad about your mother either. She killed a lot of people in her anger and frustration a lot of them innocent just like you. She changed in the end, for the better, but you need to know that she went through so much in the beginning."_

_Ashrina did not cry in fact she felt a like hard puzzle had finally be completed. She wanted to know the truth the good and the bad. "Thank you Lucy, thank you very much." Ashrina said, bowing her head. "I'm glad you told me this, it's good to know about my mother's history all of it. Thank you very much. What about my father?"_

"_That I just don't now." Lucy said with a small shake of her head. "Frederick never went much into his history except for the few parts that he mentioned. I remember, that he said long ago he was captured and experimented on with a group of other people in this organization. I don't know anything about it except that he and this other man were the only survivors of the experiments."_

"_Other man?" Ashrina asked._

"_His name was Vetus Crease, he was a extremely powerful man who held a deep grudge against your father. Frederick said that he held this grudge because he reminded Crease of that organization that lived in. Crease wasn't a good person, and not someone you want to meet either, but if what your father says is true. Crease suffered just as much as I, your mother and your father did. You're father killed Crease when you were very young as he tried to kill your mother._

_I'm sorry, but that's all I know about your father's history."_

"_Thank you Lucy. Thank you so much, I think I'll go back to sleep now."_

"_Alright Ashrina…oh, Ashrina." Lucy said as Ashrina turned away._

"_You look very much like your mother right now, I think she and your father would be very proud of you."_

* * *

_Jericho came the next day to discuss some important things that had come up. He had come to discuss a few important details that had happened, things that had to be discussed with this on going battle against Serelia. Sitting himself in one of the chairs, he let his memories wash over himself as he held the golden locket, gazing longingly into the picture before putting it away._

"_Things have changed entirely now." He coughed, looking at Lucy, Nana, Ashrina, Lilum and Kouta with his single silver eye. "Torino has absorbed the weapon's bed of a military outpost which to be blunt, means he's become a living weapon in himself."_

"_We can still take him down, especially my mother." Lilum pipped in. Lucy didn't say anything, but she was quite sure that her daughter was correct. Jericho, as if he could read her thoughts, said differently. "Torino has changed drastically and for the worst. My weapons alone can handle your vectors even in the pure form, and he holds even more powerful guns at his disposal. Alongside his regeneration his threat is now equal, if not better than Serelia."_

_They all looked around._

"_Certainly there's something we can do." Nana said after a moment of silence._

"_Of course, there is a major difference between power and impossibility. Torino and Serelia are both incredible people and beating either of them would be hard no matter what." Jericho said._

"_Serelia will die, I'll make sure my vectors rip her apart." Ashrina grumbled._

"_That's another thing I wish to talk about." Jericho said lifting a finger. "It's time you stopped using your vectors."_

_The unanimous "What!" from the Diclonius was expected. "What are you talking about, the only way we can even beat her is by using our vectors!" Lucy yelled, thinking perhaps Jericho has lost it. "Lucy, I want you to think about something. Do you really think your vectors are the most powerful thing in the world?"_

"_Well, of course not, but there certainly better than anything else." Lucy said flustered._

"_Powerful enough to deal with humans right? Strong, invisible, death filled with no hope to those who are touched by them? Unstoppable to mere humans, the ones that can't see them."_

_Lucy wasn't sure what Jericho was getting at right now, but she had to nod. She couldn't see a reason why not, vectors were incredible things both the good and the bad._

"_With those arms, making short work of people should be simple right?"_

"_Yes…" Lucy answered still unsure._

"_Then tell me, how was it that you were caught long ago and set into that institution for so many years? Certainly with your powerful vectors you could've made short work of anybody who came. Hell, you could have just killed the people who tried to take you in the beginning."_

_Jericho's words struck Lucy like a baseball to the head. "Well…I…" She couldn't speak._

"_Remember this, Diclonius." He said looking at the certain group. "There are more than one ways to win a war. It's not about being stronger, that is only a helpful attribute. It's about knowing your opponent, your surroundings. It's about thinking of a plan and working it in a way that helps you out. Torino once said to me…_

_There is only one way to deal with Diclonius, and that is to dish out more violence then they could dish out themselves. I believe when he said that, he didn't mean it in the literal sense, he meant it as a way that just because Diclonius had those vectors. They could still be defeated using other means, the greatest of which was fear. Torino has made himself into an image of fear for Diclonius, and has prove his point many times."_

"_You're actually taking advice from that guy?" Ashrina yelled._

"_It's best to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." Jericho replied. "What I mean is that Torino, a mere humans, before he became what he is now, kept the Diclonius in check using fear and dominance as a mean. He, who held no vectors, who held no powers kept everyone in check. In fact, and I don't mean to boast, I can confidently say that if I or Torino were there at the time, Celia would not have escaped._

_Torino may have changed, but he is no fool. I have worked for that man for too long to realize it. Serelia may be more powerful than Torino but the latter is definitely more dangerous. The main point I want to make to you all is this. Sometimes you have to think outside of the box, your vectors don't work…think of something else."_

"_Like what?" Lilum asked._

"_Who knows, it's up to you. Torino used his superior intellect and I used my gun skills and eyes. Just remember this, sometimes it's better to take an opponent form the side, than head on."_

* * *

_The white suit fluttered calmly in the wind as Torino rested against the side of the skyscraper lover looking the vast city. His face was stone cold impassive as not even the bird that landed next to him caught his attention._

"_**Please…you don't have to do this."**_

_But the man had stopped listening to the pleas of the Voices inside of his head. He looked down at the people, ants to most but to him, with his body adapted could see them all. He was going to kill all the Diclonius and he had made that point clear long ago. But he was looking for a certain one, Serelia. She was the only one who could threaten him, though Lucy wasn't to be trifled with either._

_His shoulder arched up, forming into a long barrel of a gun as it aimed downwards._

"_**Is this really what you've become Torino? A monster?"**_

_The gun arched down, aiming for a small pink haired girl holding her mother's hand. So many Diclonius, so many of them which had to die. Die now!_

"_**We see, you've given up and surrendered."**_

_At last Torino lowered his gun, his teeth barred in perfect frustration. "I told you all to stay out of this. Fuck off." He whispered angrily. But he discontinued the deed, he got up, and let his body sink down across the building like a puddle, obscured and formless until he slithered back on the streets undetected. _

_And then he saw something that only made his anger grow more. There, easily seeing him as he rose back into his original form, was Anna. She apparently didn't get the first time. It was time to kill her, the small child was lucky but he has personally told his damn sister that his merciful act was only once._


	12. Two Dark Of Spade

**Ch 12: Two Dark Of Spade**

"_Sir! Sir! Jericho-san! The television! Hurry!" Kouta was spluttering incoherently which meant that something important was currently on right now. As the only person who could speak English in the group, Jericho was often asked to translate important information from the news. Knowing that Kouta would not have called him over unless it seemed important, he quickly hobbled over on his cane to the room. He could hear a young man's voice speaking incredibly fast in his native language and when he got into the room, saw that he was next to another male, young and with horns. The camera faced the nearest city streets, people gawking and shouting. _

_It didn't take long for Jericho to realize what the whole fuss was about or why Kouta had called him in. Torino stood out like a sore thumb, his white suit still and unmoving as was his hair, his cold face set stone cold serious. A few meters away was his sister, Anna, who held her body defensively, breathing harshly, her body bruised._

"_That…that's Torino!" Lucy cried in outrage when she saw him on the television. "Be quiet Lucy." Jericho said seriously, he did not mean to sound harsh, but he had to listen to what the news was saying. _

"_**I don't know how long this poor woman is going to last Revere.**" The human said to his partner who looked close to blowing his top just by looking at Torino his fist clenched. "**That man over there, you told me about him…who was he again?**"_

"_**Kakuzawa…Torino!**" The Diclonius spat, his voice so ill disgusted that his words were almost incoherent. "**He's the most infamous man in the Diclonius community, he has done so many things, horrible things to all of us. He's the one who tortured and imprisoned the Old Queen.**"_

"_I don't know what that woman is thinking but she doesn't have a chance against him." Lucy said. Jericho said nothing, but agreed silently inside of his head. Although Anna never really showed herself as a person who would just run into a fight either. There was something more to this although he wondered if Anna had known just how deep of a mess she had gotten into right now._

"_We need to help her." Nana said._

"_No." Jericho said slowly which got him a rousing glare of hate from the others. A glare that quickly changed when Jericho glared back coldly. "Lucy, you're the only one capable of fighting Torino right now, if you so wish, you can go. The rest of you will stay here."_

"_No way. I'm going with my mother as well." Lilium cried aloud with a determined look on her face. Ashrina too got up, her vectors spreading out threateningly. "It's about time I taught that man a lesson anyways…what!"_

_She was expecting the cane to come rushing to her head, it missed though and she felt a rather smug pride in herself. Apparently Jericho had though he could fake her out with his cane rushing at her, but she had proven him wrong there. That idea changed though as he bent low and quickly tripped her on the spot. She didn't even touch the ground when his single hand dropped his cane and grabbed by the scruff of her dress and threw her into Lilium who was so surprised she was knocked to the floor along with her friend. _

_Moaning simultaneously, the saw Jericho limping forward on his cane again, and much like an old man, bopped them each on the heads with it, making them feel really stupid. Lucy was stuck between horror and impressiveness. Much like any mother, no matter what the circumstances were, she did not like to see Lilium being kicked around like that. At the same time, she had to give some grudging respect to Jericho. Even as an old man, with one arm and one eye, he still had some skill to be reckoned with. It also brought to mind what he had said to them before._

_That there was more than one way to win a war. Now that she truly thought about it, her vectors really weren't the greatest things in the world. Sure they were useful, but they weren't without their limits either. People like Bandou and Jericho had proven that they didn't need vectors to fight Lucy and the other Queens. Torino and his father had used mental instability to gain their goals against her and the other Diclonius._

"_Jericho." Lucy said slowly. "This is kind of…awkward for me…but can I use one of your guns."_

"_Hm?" _

"_It's like you said, there is more than one way to win a war. Vectors are my primary weapons, they always have been but seeing what humans have done themselves. Maybe I can win using not my normal powers, but others."_

"_I see." Jericho replied brining out one of his Tungsten 50's and handing it over to Lucy. "However I did not have the time to reload that gun since my battle with Torino, as such there are only 5 bullets in it. Use them wisely."_

_Lucy held the gun in her hand much like she would hold a grenade right before its pin was pulled. She had been struck by bullets and see guns, but she had never held one before in her life. It felt just as powerful as its intentions were it was also frightening. She was used to using her vectors, for her vectors were a part of her. What she held, it was mysterious and…rather ugly. It didn't have that fluid motion her arms did, that serenity of power. She felt like she was holding a piece of dried molten rock, rough, warm and uncomfortable. She almost wanted to just drop it._

_But she also knew, that this gun had handled vectors also. She knew, that this gun, despite its alien nature, had effectively done what most hadn't._

"_Lucy, be careful." Kouta said seriously. "Mother…" Lilium cried, tears springing into her eyes._

"_I'm allowing you to do what you wish, Elfenliar, but I do wish to express my warning for you." Jericho said coldly. "Remember who you are facing, Torino is a man who has never sensed fear in his entire life, even when confronted by a pure form Diclonius. You have been known, in the past to use your powers as a way of intimidation."_

_She didn't answer, but she knew he spoke the truth._

"_Get rid of it." Jericho's voice was harsh and angry._

"_Having served him for many years, Torino will never be intimidated by you nor will he ever surrender to you. Whether or not he is a god can be questioned, but he is definitely not going to let you win easily. You understand that right?"_

"_Yes." Lucy said._

"_Good. Now remember this final advice, Torino can regenerate any and every part of his body, but this regeneration is also directly linked to his brain. As long as part of his brain is intact, he will continue to live."_

"_So if I remove the brain…" Lucy began, but she was instantly cut off by Jericho who shook his head disappointedly._

"_No. Do you not remember what he said, long ago. Even if his brain was removed, while that would certainly incapacitate him, it would not kill him. As long as his brain exists, he will always regenerate and as long he holds that broken self delusion inside of him, he will never see the error of his ways. The time is long gone when I could fight and do something, I am old…its time for the younger generation to take over."_

"_HOLY SHIT!"_

_Nana could get angry at times and there were points when she could lose it. But it just wasn't natural to hear her curse like that. "L-look there!" She cried, pointing at the screen. They all looked but saw nothing out of the ordinary, people looking in horror and anger. But when she pointed to a specific shadow, they got in closer and gasped._

_Hidden, obviously because certainly her appearance would have made a scene…but there nonetheless…_

_Was Serelia._

* * *

"_Torino, brother…please just listen to me." Anna panted as Torino stood over her, his left arm holding an unknown, but obviously very powerful gun as it had blasted through Anna's vector barrier and tore out a large hole in the side of her arm._

"_Listen? I've listened long enough to my bastard father and the rest of you." He said, gouging out another part of her arm. "And what about the rest of you." Torino said, eyeing the other Diclonius who startled. _

"_What's wrong? Before you would always talk as if you could beat me, kill me in fact. Well here I am, not hiding, so come on and kill me then." He was mocking, his dark smile spreading across his face._

"_If that's what you wish."_

_He turned on the spot, his head jerk to the left and he saw her, Serelia and her appearance sparked such an outrage from the Diclonius that it blocked out all other sounds. But as Torino turned to face her, their voices became silent._

"_Chiba Serelia…" He whispered softly, narrowing his eyes as if making sure he was truly seeing her. Then he crossed his arms and smirked devilishly, confidence brimming in his hazelnut eyes. "What a surprise, the dark mistress herself has finally come out of the shadows. Tell me, what took you so long? Were you scared of me?"_

"_Now that's a joke, human. Scared of you…ha." Serelia was just as confident as Torino was and she had a right to be. Unlike Anna, she was actually a threat. "I love how you all keep calling me human." Torino replied casually, arms still crossed. "I always wonder, why everyone keeps calling me that. Brutus said the same thing, right before I tore him into pieces." His smirk grew and Serelia frowned._

"_Maybe…" He continued. "That's just a way of trying to deny…just how human you really are Serelia."_

_Igniting a keg, Serelia's vectors burst out furiously, the 100 vectors zipping out and slicing through the people who had the unfortunate luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ones that survived instantly backed away, cries and moans echoing in the city street. Torino didn't lose his composure, yet, but he also became far more serious._

"_Someone seems a bit pissed?" He mocked._

"_Screw you, monster." Serelia muttered._

"_That's right, but don't you think we've talked long enough. Time is ticking away and so is your life. I've heard that God is a very benevolent person. Perhaps, if you beg and pleaded for death._

_He will put you out of your fucking misery."_

_No more than a second passed, than the fight started._

* * *

_Author's note: In case I never specified before text that looks like "**" means that the character is speaking actual English and not japanse. They are int eh USA after all, Japanese isn't exactly the native language over there._


	13. Iniquity Duos

**Ch 13: Iniquity Duos**

_A quick slash and Torino was bisected at the waist, his eyes widening as his upper body turned, the lower falling to its knees. Serelia's smug grin vanished from her face soon after as Torino's arm jerked out, the ulna of his arm forming into a thick gun. Acting quickly, Serelia threw her vectors in front of her, a wise move as the blast catapulted her into the air, her body crashing loudly into the skyscraper behind her. Torino liquefied himself into a thick brown puddle, a deep throaty laugh slipping out from the mass before several arms shot out towards the building that Serelia had landed in._

"_Damn human…" She muttered, picking herself. "I swear I'll kill him…huh?" Slammed against the opposite wall, she shrieked before being forcibly dragged out by the ankle, the thick swollen arm slamming her into the ground. Serelia's anger was never easily under control, so it wasn't odd to see her pissed as hell. Torino reformed into his body, chuckling lightly._

"_I've said it once and I'll say it again, you Diclonius just don't know your place. Shall I spell it out for you, Chiba Serelia? You will die, by my hands, struggling for your final breath before I close it off forever. You will perish, in agony as I live and you will die in your misery knowing this._

_That you were killed by a monster…" The smirk grew, spreading across his demented face. "You were killed by a human."_

"_SHUT THE HELL UP!"_

_Torino wasn't ready for the vectors, all of them, 100 to come at him and was torn to pieces, his grunts dying out. "As if I'd ever die from a human like you." She whispered, her eyes widening as the arms sprung back at her, one of them grabbing her throat. She cut it off, but no sooner had she, than her body was pounded by 20 different appendages. "GET OFF!" She shirked, throwing her vectors out in a arch, cutting off the flailing limbs._

"_I can tell, just how much you fear me Serelia…" Torino's voice said from the bubbling mass that had now retaken the form of his body. "…I have waited too long for this, the day your kind perishes. Now come at me! COME AT ME YOU FUCKING DICLONIUS!" _

_She did, she screamed and rushed at him, face livid. His body sprouted the weaponry and the bullets began to fire, Serelia's many vectors crisscrossing to block and deflect the ammo, most of which took at least 5 arms to do so. She closed the gap, and leapt into the air, face spread out in fury. Torino's shoulder popped up, the cannon forming and fired his eyes widening as Serelia caught it and threw it back down. Side stepping as the ball crashed loudly into the street, creating a small crater, Torino used his appendages to push himself away. Serelia's vector fist just barely missed Torino and by the time she had landed on the ground, she had already charged back at him. She was snarling, her face wicked and likewise Torino's teeth ground against each other. His real arm was ripped off and Serelia felt 3 powerful bullets hit her in the left thigh. _

"_How long will you last?" Torino mocked, though there was no smile on his face. "Even with 100 vectors you just can't get passed my regeneration."_

"_Why don't you stop talking and just fight!" Serelia retorted. "Talking? That's funny coming from someone who did nothing but bitch constantly in a child's head!" _

_Loud bangs and slashes sounded and in the five second period that it was over, Torino was missing both arms as was as a good chuck of his upper body, the throat ripped and his eyes glaring. The Dark Queen was panting heavily, blood dripping from her face. Then she screamed, blood curdling of hate and rage, all of her vectors coming out in furious storm. The white suited man knew that he had to act now or never, and the bullets flew randomly from his body forcing most of Serelia's arms to move back and protect her. Some of them however got through and pounded mercilessly into his body, ripping and tearing, goring and slicing. He twisted out, his body unnaturally set while his head began to change._

_Serelia would not be daunted by the monster that stood before her, the 10 arms springing from the colossal six eyed head. Stopping the fist that tried to ram into her was easy, after all she held the most vectors of any Diclonius, and she was Pure Form Queen. With one quick slash, Torino's arm fell off, the monster growling and his head bubbling before multiple black balls dropped from his swollen forehead. They were bombs and Serelia threw out her vectors to stop them. Flashes of lights dimmed her vision and the smoke obscured the rest of her view. When it cleared, The monstrous form was gone, which considering his size, felt a bit impossible._

"_Behind you…" A cold voice replied from the direction it intended and with horror gripping her, she turned around only to have Torino's long arm grasp her throat and slam her into the next complex. "A body, that I can perfectly adapt to, regeneration, superior strength the ability to predict the future. You, a fucking Diclonius can even grasp how powerful I've become." Torino roared and jerked her out so quickly she felt the whiplash against her head, he let go and the momentum of his pulled flung her so quickly that she rushed towards him at high speed. _

_*BAM!*_

_Her lower jaw dislocated from the force of the punch and for a moment she blacked out. "Stay awake! Stay awake!" She roared at herself, trying to keep herself conscious. Sliding roughly up against the ground, she flew into the air using her arms to push herself off, her moment brought her higher and higher until at last she stood on top of the skyscraper above her._

_Obviously seething with the vectors wrapping around the large construction that she stood upon, Torino lifted his head to look up at her. "You've got some never human…" She growled, one her hands pushing her jaw back into place painfully. "You…dare to even touch me. The ultimate Queen of the Diclonius! A damn human ape like you! A monster!" She crossed her arms over her chest and the wind kicked around her, a literal hurricane rushing around the evil woman._

"_I…" She whispered savagely as Torino took notice of her change. Her horns, which had grown long in her transforming to her Pure Form, has begun to bend downwards. Her long hair, flipping wildly became an even thicker red and in the center of her black eyes, red pupils sprouted._

"_I…" she repeated, teeth grinding harshly._

"_What is she doing?" Torino though, trying to look into the future, but what was happening was so new that his predictions were finding it hard to get a real idea out of it. Nevertheless, he turned on his heels and had his arms comes from his body, encircling him like the mutated squid he so resembled before, six eyes turning into slits. All sorts of guns were coming out of his body now, their power indescribably dangerous._

"_I…" She said even louder…_

"…_WILL NEVER LET YOU KILL ME YOU FUCKING HUMAN!" She spread her arms out and the flash of lightly spread across her body blinding absolutely everything in the vicinity. Torino could tell that something was rushing towards him, he could sense it and he could also sense that he now had to give everything he had. The bullets flew out from his body, aiming perfectly although nobody else could see what was happening and then he felt a slice spread across his chest. It felt like a vector yet it had not cut all the way through, but it hurt. Grunting in agony, he placed his hand on the wound which he saw to his shock had not only been cut, but something else was happening. It skin that had been wounded was peeling away, turning into a thin white dust that vanished into the wispy air. Torino concentrated and stopped the burning, before slowly turning to see what Serelia had done._

_What he saw was far different than he had ever seen from a Diclonius. He had been shocked the first time he had seen the Pure Form of a Diclonius and now he saw something that was so different his mind didn't grasp it at first. He assumed it was Serelia who stood before him, her back facing him._

_There were 2 vectors around her, only two and his predictions could tell that. They were just as long as the others but they were also different in a very specific aspect, they were not invisible. They were black and smoky but clearly visible even to Torino's own eyesight but that was perhaps the least shocking of her transformation. Sprouting from her back like some perverse angel, a set of black wings spread. Just as black and smoky as her vectors and in her left hand, held tightly was a long thin substance, a spear of some sorts in the exact same compound as her vectors and wings. Her smile could not have been more haughty. _

* * *

"_Ummm…Jericho, you wouldn't have any idea on what just happened?" Lucy's voice came out in a crack, too shocked as she starred at the television screen with everyone else. Jericho shook his head, starring coldly at the screen and mentally trying to find an answer._

"_I don't know…this is beyond anything I have ever encountered." While the others were paying attention to Serelia, Jericho was more concerned with Torino. The attack Serelia had dealt had a very negative effect on his body. His regeneration was not working as well and it harmed his body worst than a normal attack from a vector would. _

* * *

"_Are you surprised, human?" Serelia taunted and Torino could feel her Diclonius energy more easily than before, his lips turned into a snarl. "Don't worry, I've heard that goddess is rather benevolent. Perhaps if you beg for your life, she'll put you out your misery."_

_*Snap!*_

_Even with his dark energy spreading like wild fire, Serelia did not even flinch from Torino's snap. She just stood there calmly the only thing changing was her grin which widened. "Hurts doesn't it, knowing you'll die soon." She said, spreading her wings out and hunching over._

"_Is that so, Chiba Serelia? You think because you've attained this form, that you can still beat me?"_

"_Of course, it's only natural. I could've beaten you before but now…well I almost feel bad about doing this…almost."_

"_THEN BRING IT ON DICLONIUS!" Torino roared, spreading his arms out and having his six eyes glare directly at her. She narrowed her eyes and then flew at him. Flew, with speed rushing past her, the black weapon in her hand. She bypassed Torino who starred in shock as her velocity. He registered that she was behind him and turned to deal with the problem, problem was, she had already struck before he could react. The spear drove into his chest, and while the attack normally wouldn't have mattered, it mattered now. She took the spear out and the center of his chest burned and frizzled away before stopping, leaving Torino gasping. The man regenerated but it was so much harder now, the attack was definitely harmful to him._

"_You never did understand how weak you were Torino always hiding behind the walls. Always hiding behind that damn guard of yours, letting everyone else do your dirty work! You were weak before and your weak now."_

_She threw her arm forward, clutching her strange spear and aiming a vertical slice and gasping when Torino's sickly arm grasped it, holding it tight. His flesh burned where he held but he had definitely caught it._

"_I am right here, fucking Diclonius, I am hiding behind nothing an nobody. You honestly think…that because you've gotten stronger…that I would just stop and let you kill me? YOU IDIOT!" He screamed and with a twist of his disintegrating arm, snapped the spear in two, breaking it off as his arm vanished into dust along with the weapon. Serelia growled threw her arm holding the weapon back, and reformed the black spear._

_There they stood their grounds, Kakuzawa Torino and Chiba Serelia, poised to attack, ready to murder._


	14. Dominant Granted Hell

**Ch 14: Dominant Granted Hell**

_Sweat, blood and gore are the three most common things now seen during this epic fight between the most powerful monster in the world and the most powerful witch in the world. Those who have survived the warm up gaze in awe as the Dark Queen rushes and slices through the flesh of Kakuzawa Torino. White suit ripping constantly and his skin peeling off, Torino refuses to back down, and every blow that is dealt against him, he fires off his guns and throws out his flesh. Serelia unable to comprehend why Torino is still fighting, why he is still shooting. She can not understand, how someone can fight when she knows that she is stronger!_

_She zips passed him, her right vector reaches for his throat, eyes maddened with hardened malevolence. Simultaneous a rifle explodes from his chest the burst firing as they attack at the same time. His heads comes off with a single plop, blood spraying the area as Serelia was forced to close her black vector wings around her. Acting much like a shield, the bullets pound into her wings, pushing her back, Torino's neck has already fused back to his body, regenerating but his eyes are dilated with a supreme sense of anger. Her screams are matched by his roars as they rush at one another, arms and vectors flying and bashing against one another. Every time Torino is cut down, he pushes harder against Serelia while the woman watches as he edges in closer._

"_DAMN YOU!" Her words are nothing but a screech as she cuts of his arm with her spear watching the arm fly away and turning into dust before it even hit's the ground. Torino either does not notice it, or refuses to notice the burning agony coursing through his veins as he has already exploded from his body in the massive form of his monstrous self. Lifting her wings, the woman soars into the air as the monster crashes into the ground, one of his six eyes turning upward, the guns in his spine shooting out._

_*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*_

_She zips in and out through the gun fire, sweat dripping from her face as the shells barely graze passed her face. Pushing himself upwards, the monster springs into the air and Serelia can't help but gasp as she sees this abomination come flying at her. _

_*Slice!*_

_Shuddering uncontrollably, Torino is split in half from the attack his form falling into the ground as clouds of dust and smoke overtake the area. Everyone watches in complete awe as these hellish beings as they attack one another. The wicked woman doesn't even let herself catch her breath, but acts immediately, the wind kicking behind her. Coming fast, velocity rushing, she takes the spear over her head, about to impale it into the murky brown puddle that is beginning to reform._

_*CLASH!*_

_Her weapon was forced back by Torino's bullet and as the moment she caught her balance, she saw the thick fist coming at her, massive, huge and swollen. _

_*Slash!*_

_Burned and rotting away into a pile of white dust, Torino's destroyed arm means nothing to him. He hates everything, he hates life, death, freedom, slavery, the sun the moon, sadness and happiness. He hates everything that exists including himself, there is nothing that he fears. There is nothing that he will surrender to. _

_To the watching crowd, Serelia is hack and slicing through a gun shooting cloud of dust, the flesh peeling off of Torino's body to the point where his rib cage and sternum are now visible. The pain is obliterated by the sounds of his screams, his ammunition discharging wildly as if without care, but even Serelia knows, despite her eternal hate for this bastard, knows that he is not playing. She will never admit it but she knows what a challenge is, and a challenge is something she can never lose. But the thing was, neither could Torino._

_*Crash!*_

_His upper body, which like the rest of his body was disintegrating on the spot was flung into the watching crow who dispersed. Many of them were killed as Torino's guns tore them to pieces as he insanely shot at the woman who was once again required to defense herself, the ammo crashing against her wings. _

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGH!" Torino was roaring, everything being unleashed from his body, his weapons forcing Serelia back. She was struggling, eyes shaking with renowned fury as she just can't believe that she is being challenged equally. The roars of the bullets are matched by Kakuzawa Torino's own roars that are echoing again and again and again, everyone who dares to live in such a hell can hear. _

_*BOOM!*_

_The buildings around her crash as the bullets are deflected away, Serelia's wings spreading outward and a form of Diclonius energy ruptures the ground around her. She flies towards him, and slices across his neck with her black weapon the dust from his wound pouring out. She turns her body, swinging the vector spear to the side and lops off his real left arm. The damage to his body caused by the accursed weapon was not allowing Torino to regenerate as easily, his suit was torn and his body torn even worst. F_

_*SLICE!* *BANG!*_

_A gush of blood bursts from Serelia's shoulder, the woman screaming incorrectly as her spear stabs through his gut and slices to the side, opening up a huge wound that sprays everything with white dust. _

"_My God…" A person spoke in the crowd. "What the hell are they?" Nobody can answer of course, they are looking at the perversion of reality, nothing beyond nothing before. Nothing but a scene of total destruction created by two beings who just don't belong in sanity. _

_Struggling, Torino's body is a shell of his former self. Six eyes starring, 3 of which are nothing but a burnt hole in his head, half of his skull is showing and his entire upper body skeleton is visible. Skin drips from his body, melting away before vanishing into the whiteness that floats around him. Yet despite his wounds, he has no intentions, ever…in forever…to give up…to surrender._

_He has no heart, he had no soul, he has no love or care. He is but a monster who hates, despises and it is that which he engulfs into his body. Every blow that is dealt against him destroys him, tears him apart into a billion pieces but every attack leads him forward, and he pounds Serelia's body with his guns. Her arm is broken and her chest is bleeding profusely._

"_Shit…Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Her curses are thrown out as she hacks away until finally she throws him into the next closest building. She can't control her anger, it is overflowing and everyone within a 30 meter radius is cut in half, their gore soaking the ground._

"_GOD DAMMIT DIE ALREADY!" She sends her other vector out and bashes it into Tornio's head, exploding his brains out, his body twitches, the kind of blow that would really affect him. He wouldn't have bothered even if he could regenerate easily now, even as his head exploded like a balloon, he let his flesh rupture and turn into a wave of arms that crashed into Serelia without mercy. She could see that single glaring hazelnut eye in the swarm of writhing brown, she could feel the bullets hit her in the arms and legs as she barely managed to deflect them. He is disembodied now, no form, no structure, merely a writhing mass of arms and guns that attack indiscriminately now._

* * *

"_Mama?"_

_Drawn to the fight like moths to a flame, Ierina gazes at the fight from the bloody sidelines. She doesn't have a clue who she is fighting and what she sees honestly scares her. What in the hell was that thing? It was attacking her mother violently and it seemed that no matter how much her mother ripped it apart, it always kept coming back._

"…_Mama…what's going on…mama?" She spoke softly, to herself. "I'm…I don't want to do this anymore…please…mama." But Serelia never listened, all she cared about was death._

"_P-please Mama…I'm hungry…I'm scared. I don't want to do this anymore. I-I don't want to live like this. Pl-please mama!"_

_She shuddered, nobody was listening to her, nobody cared._

"_Ma-mama. I…haa…haa…I want…haa…I want…I want…" But whatever she wanted, her mother would never give to her. She cared more about dealing with that ugly thing, than her only child._

"_Mama?" She whispered once, reaching out with her hand, in the hopes that Serelia would at least turn to offer her attention. Her fingers grasped the air and she knew, that her mother did not care._

_She couldn't bring herself to give a look of her shoulders, as she stumbled away. She heard in the distance, an extremely loud explosion_

* * *

_All the newscasters were dead, and so no images were being shown. _

"_That's…horrible." Nana muttered, looking at the blank screen. "What can we do?" Lilium asked. She had been confident that her mother could handle Serelia before, but what she saw now, she had lost that confidence. _

"_Fight…"_

_Every looked at Ashrina. "We fight…we go on and on no matter what." A form of confidence had overtaken her. "I don't care if I die, I'll do whatever it takes to bring them down. I do whatever I have to win. For my mother and father who gave up everything for me."_

"_Ashes…you can't…" Lilum said._

"_I can, maybe I can't beat them. But I can't just do nothing, I'll die standing holding everything, even if I can do nothing in return. As long as I exist, I will always continue. Isaac!" She said, surprising him slightly by using his first name. "We all have choices right? This is my choice, and that is to stand facing my fears and turning my back on regret."_

"…_**A Wise Declaration.**" He said in English, and though none of them could understand him, they felt a sense of potential in those words._

* * *

_Serelia has ran away before her wounds could get any worst._

_Torino's opened his eyes, his body was weak but reformed and somebody was standing over his body. "Have you come to gloat…sister." He mumbled lifting himself up. Her eyes were closed._

"_Torino…" She said slowly. "I want you to listen to me, please. Just listen once." _

"_I'm not much in a position to argue." He growled. _

"…_Institution 'Z', in the office of your father there is a video, it's a single one so you can't miss it. Please, just…watch it."_

"_Idiot, as if I care about why my father had to say."_

"_Please, just do that one thing. Please."_

"_**Please do it…"**_

"_Bah. Fine then, if only to get you away from me."_


	15. The Epitome Of A God

**Ch. 15: The Epitome Of A God**

_Alone._

_All alone in that place where it all began and where it all ended. Lost, rejected and forgotten, Torino stood alone in the office of his father, feeling ill just by being in it. Everything was quiet, even the Voices in his head did not speak as he looked around. He was too damn soft, why the hell was he even here?_

"_**Maybe because you honestly do care."**_

"_I thought you all were quiet." He though savagely. He searched and found a single tape, dusty and unused, it was the only one there and he hissed in frustration. Who knew what he was getting into right now. But nevertheless he took it and put it in the television. There was a single chair which he sat himself into, looking bored and rolling his eyes._

_Hate…was the only thing he knew._

_The video began to play and it was exactly as he thought it would be. There stood his father, haughty and proud when he was younger, his wig a bit lopsided although Torino's keen mind might have been the only one who could see it. Of course he was yapping constantly, he didn't think he'd ever have to hear that annoying voice again. He wasn't talking to anybody in particular, just himself. The bastard was contemplating his own divinity._

"_Superior…"_

_He hated that word, he hated everything about just as he hated that man on the screen. He closed his eyes._

_For everything that has a beginning there is an end and his end came long ago. Kakuzawa Torino hates himself because he has never known love or happiness in his entire life. Torino is a monster not because of form but because of mind. Kakuzawa Torino is a sad man who gave up his soul only to lose. And yet he can never give up, because it goes against everything he believes in. He cannot cry because it against his law. He is alone, so desperately in need of hope that he has lost everything that once connected him to this world. He is only to himself, a box surrounding nothing and containing nothing and being nothing._

_He is nothing, and nothing does not get happiness._

_5 minutes passed. The scene had changed and his father was a few years older. He was in the cavern, talking about the superiority of the Diclonius race, his sister Anna floating in the water behind him. _

_He has always hated Diclonius because while some were cruel, many were happy. It hurt him so much to see something that he never had. It hurt him, more than anything in the entire universe. That girl, Chiba Celia who defied him to the very end, was happy and he couldn't stand it._

_He didn't give a damn that she was defying his power. He didn't care that she was challenging him. He didn't gave a damn about any of that, it was the pure fact that she was once happy and even after all that he did to her, continued to be happy._

_Then she had the nerve…to do what she did._

_To write his name on that arch and forgive him. She didn't have a clue, on how much it hurt him when she did that. Because it was stab in something that he could never have, happiness. She unknowing gave him the worst wound she could ever give him. _

_10 minutes passed, it had to have been at least 15 years since the beginning of the video. Nothing was new, it was still the same fucking thing. Superiority._

_15 minutes passed_

_20 minutes passed._

_25 minutes passed._

_ENOUGH!_

_He was tired of this, he was sick of listening to that old man yap his mouth again and again and again. Fucking talking, never looking beyond his horns. No more, whatever point Anna had tried to make had failed. He pushed himself off the chair, his wrath uncontrollable. _

"_I hate everything…" He thought angrily, walking from his seat as his father continued to blather on the screen. _

"_Torino…"_

_And at that moment, Torino stopped in his tracks. He didn't stop because his name was said, he stopped because the voice that said it sounded nothing like his father. Slowly turning, he faced the screen. He wasn't sure if that was Kakuzawa Genshru looking at the camera, his face sad and pitiful. Certainly that was not his father, who looked so depressed. He checked the date of the recording, it was an hour before he died._

"…_Kakuzawa Torino. I know that by the time you see this video, if you ever see it, I will long be dead. I…" He closed his eyes. "…I…thought about what you said to me, those many years ago. That I should look beyond the horns on my head. I honestly gave it some thought and…" He choked, clearing his throat, he seemed incapable of looking at the screen. "…You were right…" He said. "It's not about horns or Diclonius. I was the most selfless bastard in the entire world and I couldn't see it. I thought myself the greatest person ever. I wanted to be a god."_

_Torino eyes widened._

"…_Lucy is currently in my custody, Franco is here also along with Anna. I know she will never agree with me, but I can't stop. I can never…ever…_

…_surrender."_

_And Torino felt like a knife was stabbed through his head._

"…_I just can't give up, even though I know I am wrong and will never succeed. I have to always go on, because I just can't surrender. I just can't give up, because I have nothing left now. I lost it all, when I lost myself and gave up my soul to become a monster."_

_And Torino felt like a knife was digging even deeper._

"_I will die today, I know it and I'm sure Anna knows it but she won't tell me. I don't blame her, she probably thinks I want to win and the truth is I do, but I know I will lose."_

_In the background, Torino could heard a loud crash in the background and his father turned his head._

"_Lucy has broken out of her restraints, she'll be in the cavern in a few minutes." He said it like he was actually talking to someone. "Are you going to kill me too Lucy, I know I would deserve it."_

_Torino couldn't believe what his father was saying. Was he actually willingly accepting death?_

"_I don't think I know why I became like this. I think I saw my horns and saw some sort of fascination with them, importance does strange things to you Torino. I don't know what came over me, but thought of being a god…it was pleasing. I won't deny that I did not enjoy the thought of my superiority but…"_

_He stopped again, and looked to his left. Footsteps were silently echoing in the background. Genshuru sighed in his office, looking so pitiful. He swallowed looking around at everything but the screen._

"…_If Anna survives, I've asked her to tell you about this video, and I hope to any god that is out there that you will be alive to see this. You're strong, stronger than me for sure, a better man…and definitely a better human. I want you to listen, please…before I die, to give you these last words. I want you to listen, to my plead to you, Kakuzawa Torino."_

_The old man sighed again, and when he reopened his eyes, they were filled with a sense of perfect epitome, saying everything not just form his mouth but from his own self. And Kakuzawa Torino heard something he had never heard before, and it struck at him like a billion swords._

"…_I don't want you to think of me as a cruel father, Torino, but I do want you to think of me as the truth. I want you to think of me as a fool, an idiot and a bastard but I don't want you to think of me as a cruel father. Kakuzawa Torino, I am sorry…for everything hat I did, to you and our family._

_I took my pride over my home. I took my self over all of you. Anna, Santon, Franco, all of you…I rejected you just to satiate my own desires. I was a bastard and a monster. But…I don't want you to think of me as a cruel father. _

"_She's coming." He said after a moment, I guess this is it. I don't eve know where you are right now or if you'll even be watching this video. I…am once again so sorry for neglecting you and my family. I was a horrible person, but please…_

_Please…don't think of me as cruel man. _

_Torino, there is one more thing I have to say, before I die. If you have listened to this so far, thank you. Thanks for at least listening to an old man's sorrow."_

_He bowed his head._

"_I want you to know, that despite everything that I have ever done…_

_**I have always loved you as a son…"**_

_And with the one more saddened look, Genshru got up from his desk, looking out at the window before walking away from the screen. The camera stayed focus before the blackness overcame the screen._

"…"

"…_."_

"…_."_

"…_..."_

"…_..."_

_And for the first time ever, for the very first time in his entire existence…._

_Kakuzawa Torino fell to his knees, and began to sob harshly on the ground, the tears pouring from his hazelnut eyes. He collapsed forward, laying on the ground and actually crying. Actually sobbing._

"_**I have always loved you as a son…"**_

_The words echoed in his head, for all eternity, as the grown man lost it all, and just cried in that lone office from the last words of his father. That damn bastard, that idiotic piece of shit…_

_Had actually cared, for him! His son! He had called him his son!_

"_**I have always…"**_

_And for the first time since he could remember, since he even knew. He felt a strange pressure on his chest._

"_**Love you as a son…"**_

_*thump thump*…*Thump thump*_

_He placed his hand on his chest. Tears were still leaking from his face as he laid on the ground, holding his hand over the actual beating of something he thought he had lost long ago._

_His heart._

_And so he cries, there alone in the office, all by himself, he does what nobody else can see. He weeps, the monster weeps, the god weeps. The words will never leave his head. Never…and for the first time ever._

_The very first time._

_Kakuzawa Torino…is happy._

_He got up and merely stood there in the room. The tears have finally dried and he bows his head. __**"Kakuzawa Torino…what will you do?"**_

_Torino doesn't answer immediately but instead lets a calm silence engulf him. "Abandoning my old self." Then taking one last look at the man he had always hated, the man who in the end was the one who helped in find his own heart, he left the room.  
_

"_Sayonara, Kakuzawa Torino."_

* * *

_Author's note: Originally Torino took away his white suit and replaced it with a black one as a way to represent his change of views. However it became quite obvious that Torino is too epic to not have his white suit.  
_


	16. Discussion Between Enemies

**Ch 16: Discussion Between Enemies**

_The only reason they all didn't try to butcher Torino when he knocked on the door was the fact that it was three in the morning and everyone else was half asleep. Indeed the only one who seemed to be on target was Jericho who held his guns steadily, unafraid though a deep look of concern upon his ancient face. He was not afraid of Torino but if a fight broke out and he had to get involve, he knew he wouldn't last very long. As he knew, the time had long gone since he could fight. _

"_I'm here to talk to Ridini Ashrina…"_

"_Why?" Jericho's question was not in the sense that he didn't trust Torino. He could sense that something happened to the man, whether or not he had changed completely was not the question, but he was different. It was that he wore different clothing, it was his own attitude and face. There was somehow, a very distinct lack of coldness in his eyes. They were arrogant and self righteous, but somehow, if such a thing were possible, they were less cold._

"_Like hell! Get the fuck away from my family!" Lilium cursed angrily whom after a few minutes of getting awake and realizing the situation. Her thoughts were unanimous with the others but Jericho raised his hand for silence. "I ask again, why Torino?"_

"…_I merely wish to speak to her."_

"…_Fine then." Jericho said, getting a group gasp. "Are you insane man!" Lucy screamed. _

"_I am old, not senile. But if it makes you feel any better I'll stand guard." They had to be given credit, the most dangerous man in the entire world was currently in their house, wanting to see the daughter of a person he had hated all of his life and they just agreed. They went back to sleep, although if any of them actually slept was a miracle unto itself._

_Jericho stood against the wall, eyes closed in a way that quite reminiscent of his younger self. Ashrina to say the least looked like "pissed off just out of the oven." What the hell did Torino want, and more importantly why was she not killing him? He was right there, in front of her, the one who hurt her mother and Lilium and countless others. The one who murdered her own grandparents. The bastard whose name alone struck fear in the countless numbers of her kind. Why the hell, was she waiting to listen to this son of a bitch speak?_

_Perhaps because the words out of his mouth, were the last things she expected._

"_Tell me about your family."_

_It might've been a full minute where Ashrina held her mouth agape and starred blankly at Torino. "W-what?" She said, half shocked, half angrily._

"_Tell me about your family…in your own words." Torino said again calmly, leaning against the chair as Ashrina once again just held her mouth open. "Tell me…I want to hear it. Now."_

_Was he playing a game with her? Was he trying to screw with her mind? If yes, he was doing a damn good job at it because she was utterly dumbfounded. "What the hell are you talking about? Are you fucking screwing with me! You've got some nerve you murdering bastard!" She shrieked and Torino gave an audible sigh of disgust._

"…_I'm trying to be generous here…I merely want to here your answer." _

"_Answer! YOU HURT ALL OF US AND NOW…MY GOD WHAT THE HELL!" Ashrina screamed. "What are you getting at? I don't…I don't understand you at all?"_

"…_I have finally attained something that I never had." Torino said, placing his hand on his chest. "For the first time, I want to hear your side of the story. Tell me, about your family."_

"…_But…why?" Ashrina muttered._

"_Because I have always hated your mother with a passion and I will always hate her no matter what. That won't change even if I do. That eternal rivalry was set the moment we met, and no matter how much time passes. I utterly despised Ridini Chiba Celia more than person in the whole world. I would be more than glad to kill her had she still been alive._

_I will never know any love for Celia because of the perfected detestation that I felt for her. So I want you to tell me. I want you to tell me about your mother, in your words, the love that I will never know because of that illicit hatred."_

"…_My mother?" Ashrina said quietly. "…My mother…" She said again. "My mother…was someone I adored since my childhood. I loved her so much…and…" she choked trying not to cry. "…She was everything to me and when she died…I lost everything. I loved her so much and a day doesn't go by where I don't remember her smiling face._

…_T-Torino?" _

"_What is it?"_

"_Why do you hate my mother so much?"_

"…_Celia was the only person who ever beat me in a fight. But it was her happiness that I hated most of all. I had never know happiness and I couldn't stand to see your mother having the thing I never had. She defied me, and I hated her. I always will. I like to believe I changed…for the better."_

"_Can I ask another question?"_

"_What?" Torino replied._

"_Can…you tell me about your family?"_

"_My family?" Torino muttered. "…Was far different than yours. I grew up with the first child of four, born into a family where superiority was our prime concern. Our horns, represented us, and my father always told us how great we were. I thought it was the biggest load of fucking bullshit on the planet. _

_My mother died when I was a few months old and thus were all raised by my father, Kakuzawa Genshuru. I hated my family, so fucking much because none of them could see passed the horns on their heads."_

"_You had siblings?"_

"_I had a younger brother, Kakuzawa Santon. I'm not going to pretend that I had any sympathies for him. He was to the very end an idiot, up to his foolish death. Bastard thought Lucy would honestly have sex with him. I told him to stop the charade. I do not pity him. He was, by all means a fool._

_A few years later, my father had sex with Lucy's mother who gave birth to the first known King Diclonius. Kakuzawa Franco. Which means that in a sense, I too am related to Elfenlair Lucy. But he was killed at very young age by the daughter of the same mother of which bore him. _

_Then there was my sister, Kakuzawa Anna." He went silent, closing his eyes. "…She…died a few years later." Ashrina knew that he had held something back, but she didn't question him._

"_What about your father."_

"_Heh…" And Torino smirked. "My father, Kakuzawa Genshuru. I hated my father so fucking much. That goddamn fucking man! Who tore apart my realities, who cursed my existence…who…"_

"_Torino…?" Ashrina wasn't sure what to do, was the man had slumped onto the ground and…_

"_That goddamn man…" Torino sobbed. "…Who fucking gave a shit…in the very end…who actually…fucking cared about me!" The young Diclonius was again at a lost for words. Certainly a monster god…did not cry? _

_Torino got up, his tears vanishing on the spot as if the ordeal had never happened. "So there you go…there is my history as well as a something about me you have never known. That is all…I'm going to be leaving now."_

"_I can't believe I'm actually saying this, I won't forgive you for hurting my family or my mother. But…if anything, I'm glad you said that to me. You really aren't as bad as everyone claims. And…well for the most part…_

…_I forgive you."_

"_Is that so…" Torino asked. Well allow me to give you my answer to that…"_

_*SNAP!*_

_Ashrina shrieked and writhed uncontrollably on the floor, spitting out curses that didn't even make sense they were jumbled together so badly. "! !DAMMITTHATHURTS!FUCKINGASSHOLE!"_

"…_done yet?" Torino said after a moment._

"…_Don't you know the meaning of forgiveness? What the fuck is your problem anyways, do you just get your kicks on torturing me and everyone else!" _

"_Pretty much." Torino said casually, which got him another rounding applause of "YOU BASTARD!" and "FUCK YOU!" _

"_What are you bitching about girl?" Torino smirked, pointing his finger at her. "I merely asked for your answer to my question, nothing more. I made no indication that I gave a damn about any of you. The next time we meet, we shall be enemies…ready to tear out each other's throats. So give this message to your family._

_I am Kakuzawa Torino, last living son of Kakuzawa Genshuru. I am a god, created by my own hands, a god with a beating heart. I am the ultimate god in the world and the first thing I'm going to do before I bash your faces into the ground…is kill that bitch Chiba Serelia. So go on and enjoy life." _

"_…!" Ashrina, so pissed that she could actually feel her horns slowly pushing upwards before she collapsed into unconsciousness._

_

* * *

_

"_**That was harsh…even for you." **__The Voices said._

"_I'm sorry, please repeat that, I couldn't hear you all over the sounds of my gloating." Torino said smugly._

"_**The girl actually forgave you and you just…"**_

"_Pissed her off so completely that she actually began to attain her Pure Form?"_

"_**Seriously, you could've at least…what?"**_

"…_There are over 250 of you in my head, think for once. You're part of god's mind now…don't you get it."_

"_**You were helping her?"**_

"_Hahahaha…I think I finally see the end of this egoistical war. There's just one problem…"_

"_**What?"**_

"_Either side can win now."_


	17. The Deal

**Chapter 17: The Deal**

"_Can we trust him, Jericho-san?" Ashrina asked, waking up later though she hadn't been out for long, it was still dark outside. "I think it's safe to say that as long as we do not get in his way, he will not harm us. I don't know how much he's changed, although I've seen things I never thought I'd see from him…_

_He's definitely taken a new lease on life despite what you might think of him. It's also actually very helpful for us."_

"_How?" Ashrina asked, perplexed. _

"_Because he's not fighting us anymore. In a sense he has joined our side and because of that, it counts as one more for us against Serelia. But you should get some sleep, it's late."_

* * *

"_Can I talk to you, Torino." Footsteps echoing loudly, yet heard by only one, Torino turned his head. "Isaac? Yes, what would you like to talk to me about?" He was leaning against a sign post, a small cigarette in his mouth slowly puffing away. Likewise Jericho took out a smoke and the air was filled with the carcinogens._

_ "I want to ask you a favor."_

"_You want me to help you and the others out." Torino said, reading his mind. "You understand what I am right. I did not lie when I told her I would her and everyone else who stood in my way. I did not change in that aspect. I hate her, I hated her mother, I hate Lucy…all of them. That will never change."_

"_Do you hate me." Jericho said plainly, coughing silently._

"…_Hmm, no." Torino said slowly. "Even before, I have always respected you, as a soldier. You were the only one, who I could trust to keep the Diclonius under control. I've said it before and I'll say it again and again until the very end. You are the greatest human who has ever existed."_

"_Say what you want. I am not the best."_

"_Say what you wish as well Jericho. It still stands that you are in my eyes, the pinnacle of all that I ever respected. A man who showed now fears, no qualm to defeating his foes. It certainly made life easier in the facility with all those other idiots."_

_They said nothing for a while, but merely puffed their smokes casually. An hour passed, both of them merely listening to the silence of the night until that silence was broken. Lucy was coming over, eyes glaring at Torino who shrugged his shoulder's nonchalantly and faced her. When she arrived, she pulled out her vectors menacingly which matched the tone of her voice._

"_I should kill you Torino." She muttered savagely, her threat passing over Kakuzawa's head. "You hurt us, you torture us. You leave us in those facilities! You hurt my daughter! Now you think you can just come in and say 'whoops?.' What are you insane?"_

"_The woman who butchers people because she sees somebody hugging another person is calling me insane. What a fucking joke. I really do hate repeating myself but it seems that you just don't listen Kaede. Here's the deal._

_I don't give a fuck about you or Ashrina. I don't give a damn about the Diclonius. I don't give a shit, about your damn daughter Lilium. I've made this point clear to all of you…I am not insane. I just don't fucking care about you all. Let me drive this into your fucking mind…"_

_He pointed a finger at her._

"_I am a god, full most and perfected. But even gods can die, gods are nothing but myths. Whether it's in a second, or in a billion years I will be nothing but a memory. That is the fate of all gods. But until that time comes I will never surrender…never give up even when defeat is moments away."_

"_Torino, it still stands that Serelia has gain powers that even you didn't expect. Nobody is denying your power, but there is always greatness in numbers. We could definitely use your help."_

"_Sorry Jericho, but I really don't want anything to do with that man, nor do I want my family near him." Lucy said coldly._

"_And I'm sorry Lucy, but shut the hell up." Jericho replied leaving Lucy stunned, her shock so great she couldn't even retort back. _

_Torino couldn't help but smirk. "Hm, you do have a point. Usually I would disagree, but considering its you whose offered it…fine then. But we're doing things my way. But I need to go, I'm getting kind of hungry in the mental sense."_

"_The hell is that suppose to mean?" Lucy grumbled, and the answer she got was a very evil smile from Torino. "Don't worry your little head about that one, Kaede." With a final wave of his hand, Torino strolled off, chuckling under his breath. Whatever he meant, it didn't sound enjoyable to Lucy, but her attention was preoccupied with giving Jericho a lecture on what a stupid idiot he was._

"_You know what he did? Jericho, you might respect him but he's still a monster. It doesn't change the fact that he hurt my daughter, Celia and so many others and we can't just forgive him for that. I don't…"_

_*BAM!*_

_The cane struck her straight in the face, knocking her off balance before a blow to her gut sent her reeling. She wasn't sure what was happening and by the time she came to her senses, she was flat on her back embarrassed. _

"_I did not forgive him, I said I respected him. Hate him if you wish, but Torino is one of the most cunning and certainly one of the most powerful beings in the world right now. I'd much rather have him as our ally then our enemy."_

_Jericho, reached up to the locket around his neck and opened it up, Lucy for a rare occasion seeing the sadness cross that pitiless silver eye. "This is the final war, the last stand. My daughter and wife will never see that war and I died long ago only to be born again. You're daughter however is alive, she has the chance to see what mine could not. A world where humans and Diclonius truly lived together in harmony._

_Celia started that chain, she started the revolution, it's up to this generation to finish it."_

"_Jericho, you keep that locket as a momentum to your daughter. I don't know if I should be asking this but, who was your daughter, and your wife?"_

"_My daughter, Elena Tzusuki Grandes was my only child who along with my wife was killed by a Diclonius many years ago. I can still remember her scared face, her little arms reaching out to me, and I was too slow. I watched her get decapitated right in front of my very eyes._

_I loved my daughter and wife so much and when they died, I felt no reason to care anymore. What should I give a damn, about the world, when I had to suffer? That's when I met Kakuzawa Torino, and became his guard. Using my proficient skills, I terminated every opponent I saw and I felt nothing for them._

_And then she came. Chiba Celia. The first person to beat me in a fight, the first person to kill me, and unlike all the others, I couldn't kill her. Not because I wasn't capable, but because she reminded me of my daughter. She was so miserable, and I couldn't bear to kill somebody who reminded me of the only person I had ever loved._

* * *

She must have caught a cold, lying out there in the rain for so long. So Ierina found the house in front of her easily likable, perhaps a warm shower to wash off the dirt and grime that had stuck to her. She was also very hungry considering her last meal had been a half eaten rotten pear from the garbage. Hell, she'd half way contemplating eating her own arm.

A nice house, a warm bed, that sounded good.

She didn't bother knocking, she would kill any humans that came her way. And right when she entered, she turned a corner of the room and bumped into Ashrina.

* * *

**Author's note: Oh snap, the two sisters having met each other again. **


	18. Forgiving Unforgivable

**Ch 18: Forgiving Unforgivable**

_It was like two deer stuck in the headlights, Ashrina and Ierina starring blankly at one another, trying to figure out who was who. They seemed to realize that the other was familiar somehow and the brief four seconds that passed, they realized. The unanimous shriek of "It's you!" accompanied by the rushing wind of vectors emerging before the house was filled with the grinding motion of the floors being ripped up. It didn't take long for Lucy and the others to come in._

_Ierina, sporting a bloody lip looked around to see the newcomers, Lucy, Nana and Kouta who had taken a safe step backwards. "Stay out of this…" She hissed, her threat a little off considering the nature of her body. Ignoring her bloody lip, she was also malnutrition and there was a serious lack of sleep in her eyes. She was pathetic to say the least._

_Ashrina agreed with her though. "I'm going to kill her."_

"_Who is that?" Nana asked, tensing up at the moment, although she truthfully wasn't surprised. It wasn't like she expected a fight to happen, but considering this was perhaps the fifth time someone had barged into their home and caused a fight, one learned to start expecting the unexpected._

_Ashrina didn't have a damn clue what the girl's name was and quite frankly, unless it was "Miss Cut-My-Head-Off" didn't give a damn what her name was. All Ashrina knew, was that this girl had tried to kill her and her father on that plane with her mother. She might have, (Her eyes lit up at the thought) what if this girl, was the one who killed her father?_

"_You. Did you kill my father." Ashrina said sternly. She had to know, she had to know because it make killing her so much more worth it. Ierina snarled but kept her vectors wrapped around her. She seemed to know the danger and so was being defensive instead of offensive. Nevertheless she spat out the answer to her, an answer that turned Ashrina's blood cold._

"_So what if I did. He'd deserved it the fucking human!" She shrieked, teeth exposed like some sort of feral animal, with added to her ragged appearance, was pretty spot on description. "He shouldn't have gotten in my way! Stupid idiot." Ierina was shaking however, she was weak and hungry and she knew it. She hadn't come into this house expecting to see three Diclonius, one of which she had seen before and the other being a Queen. She thought she would be seeing some humans, if any at all, whom she could easily kill. _

_But Ashrina was furious, her red eyes shaking maidenly as Lucy took quick note of it. "Calm down Ashrina, now." She didn't know who this girl was, except that she was apparently responsible for killing Frederick. Lucy wasn't about to go off her lease yet and kill the girl, but at the same time, the young Diclonius better start praying. _

"_You…" Ashrina hissed again, body shaking almost uncontrollably now and Nana wrapped her vectors around her waist, trying to keep her steady. "What did my father, ever do to you? Tell me!" She screeched, causing Ierina to flinch._

"…_What do you think?" She said, a bit scared now. "He wouldn't get out of the way! He…"_

"_Huh?" Ashrina was confused now. "What happened. TELL ME OR I'LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!" Nana held her tighter, looking at Lucy for some sort of support. Ashrina was just moments from going off right now. Lucy retained or composure, a surprise considering her usual self and said in a cold voice. "I'd answer her if I were you." _

"…_He…that human scum…"_

"_Scum?" Ashrina repeated angrily. _

"_Human…" Ierina corrected herself, swallowing nervously. "…He wouldn't get out of the way. He kept zipping around the fucking room. What did he think was going to happen? Then he…he just gets in front of a child, trying to protect it. What the hell did he care about some kid there…and he just jumps in the way and…" She stopped mid word for Ashrina was just starring coldly at her now._

"…_My father sacrificed his own life, to help people around him. He sacrificed his own life to save me." She mumbled, tears running down her face. "He gave up his own life, to help people. He always helped them. He was willing to die, even against someone LIKE YOU!" Ashrian screamed the last words at Ierina who flinched once again. "He let himself die even though he could've beaten you! He should have killed you!" _

"_Please Ashrina-san…you have to…" Nana began, before one of Ashrina's vectors rushed out and hit Nana so hard across the face the Siplitet fell to the ground in a heap, unconscious and unmoving. Free of restraints, Ashrina threw her arms out, and pounded Ierina into the wall. _

"_Stop it now!" Lucy screamed, throwing one of her vectors out to pull Ashrina away. Turning to face Lucy, Ashrina's expression was almost insane. "BACK OFF LUCY!" She sent a stream of her own vectors out, actually attacking Lucy who to her surprise found that blocking Ashrina's vectors was much harder than she had thought. There were many of them also, four held her at bay while six more were already proceeding to knock the ever loving crap out of Ierina. When it was over, Ierina was on the ground, breathing heavily and bleeding profusely. It wasn't a matter of trying to kill Ashrina anymore, it was a matter of trying to survive._

"_I'm going to make you pay for everything. You, your mother…all of it. You…" Ashrina couldn't get the words out, but she raised her vector into the air, hand ready to murder, to rip through this stupid girl's chest. Take her heart out and crush it! She could do it, and nobody could stop her. She was going to avenge her father, by killing his murderess. _

_But she didn't…_

_She looked at Ierina with pure loathing but she didn't deal the finishing blow. She pulled her vectors back and kept them steadily around her body. "I won't do it…" She mumbled, swallowing deeply. "Even though you deserve it, I won't do it. I'm willing to kill Serelia but I don't think my father would want me to kill you. He wouldn't want me to become a murderess against someone who was weak and defenseless in front of me._

…_So get out." She growled the words at her, pointing to the door. "Get out, go hide or live somewhere and never come near my family again. Go back to your damn mother." _

"…_I can't…" Ierina said._

"_Why not?" Ashrina mumbled._

"_She left me…she…you don't have a clue. I was living on the streets, I didn't have anything to eat, I couldn't sleep. I was out in the rain. You don't have a clue." She was mumbling incoherently now, looking at the ground instead of Ashrina._

"_You're right, I don't…" Ashrina said seriously. "But my mother did. She watched her own parents die before her very eyes and went through tortures that you would never understand. She grew in a living hell, locked up in a cage, experimented on. So don't you dare say your life is miserable. Don't you ever say it until you went through the horrors that she did."_

_Silence._

_Complete silence._

_Ashrina turned her head finally, and sighed. She couldn't believe she was actually going to say this._

"_We have food, plenty of it and a small bedroom. Eat, and sleep there until morning. Then leave, and never come back." _

_Ierina just starred. "…what?"_

"_You heard me. You can barely move, hell if looks like your about to keel over at any second. So I'm offering you something that you've never offered anybody in your entire life. Compassion. We're having noodles with chicken, and again there's more than enough for you to have."_

"_I-I don't understand…" Ierina stammered. "What are you doing."_

"_I already told you, I'm doing something you've never done for anybody in your entire life. I'm actually taking compassion over revenge and murder. We'll be eating in two hours, the bedroom is in the far corner over there." _

_And with that, Ashrina turned and walked away. "I'm sorry mother and father." She thought to herself as everyone gave one last look at Ierina who just laid upon the ground, starring. "I couldn't do it…please don't hate me for that." _

* * *

"_How could she?" Ierina thought in her deep wondering thoughts, holding herself tightly on the ground. She hadn't moved in the passed hour, merely thinking and nobody had bothered her either. She half way wanted to scream as loud as she could and half way, honestly, she wanted to eat whatever they had to give her. She had heard a word before, something her mother had told her to never give. Mercy._

_Mercy however, was giving her food. Mercy was giving her a clean bed to sleep in. She thought perhaps that it was just a sick joke, that this was the revenge that girl was going to use on her. Make it feel like there was some hope and then snatch it away at the last moment. _

_But an hour later, that didn't happen. In fact the complete opposite did._

"_The food is ready." Ashrina said sternly, nobody will eat until you come and we're all at the table. Though try not to take too long, we don't want the food to get cold." She left and Ierina couldn't believe her ears. She was expecting to be murdered on the spot but instead this girl, who she had hunted down and whose father she had murdered…was offering her dinner?_

_Everyone was in conversation but stopped when Ierina peeked her head around the corner. It didn't feel right, she shouldn't be able to just come in, sit down and…eat like that. _

_She didn't move, she just starred at them like a frightened mouse in front of a cat. She didn't speak, afraid anything she said would instantly get herself killed. She flinched automatically when Ashrina spoke. _

"_The food is getting cold…there's a seat right over there." Ashrina made a motion with her head where an empty seat was placed directly between Ashrina and Lucy. She didn't move a single inch, she remained rooted to the spot and kept looking at everyone. She couldn't understand why nobody was attacking her, it was beyond her comprehension. But she slowly walked forward and went to her desired seat. She didn't sit down, in between that girl and a Queen Diclonius? That would've been suicidal…but they didn't do anything, they didn't even look at her. So she swallowed deeply, and sat down, closing her eyes and waiting for her head to fly off at any second._

_Nothing happened._

_The food smelled good and it was still smoking but she was so afraid to even move. She looked around her and saw that everyone else was eating. She was very hungry, she wouldn't deny that, and considering her last meal had been garbage, the noodles looked even more delicious than she could imagine. But it also felt so wrong just to start eating, after all that she did._

"_You should eat, you look like you haven't had anything good in a while." Ashrina mumbled, not even looking at her. She seemed to be forcing herself to remain impassive. So Ierina, very slowly began to eat._

_Nobody said anything to her and she was glad for this. She was able to eat in silence, looking at nothing but her food. She ate without speaking, still feeling that this was some impossible dream especially considering that earlier before she had tried to kill the girl who was now willingly helping her. After sometime though she was drawn to something else into the room. She couldn't help but take quick glances at Kouta._

_This was a human eating with five Diclonius. She glared at him, wanting so desperately to kill that man. He was a human after all, he was inferior. Lucy seemed to notice this, because she told Ierina quite seriously, "If you lay one hand on my husband, I will kill you."_

_It wasn't the threat that startled Ierina though it certainly would have been enough. It was what she had said beforehand. Had she just referred to the human as her husband? "Ummm…I won't…" She said cowed, bowing her head low. She made sure she didn't take anymore glances and in fact tried to cut her mind off of any ideas of wanting to kill him. _

_The meal was excellent despite the fear that Ierina felt and for the first time in weeks, felt full. But she was so afraid to leave, she was still thinking that at any moment she was going to die and she still couldn't understand why everyone was being so…merciful to her._

_Weighing or odds, she sucked in a deep breath and got up. Again, her head was still attached to her body so apparently getting up was still alight. "I told you where the bed is." Ashrina spoke, not even looking at her. "…You should also thank Kouta for the meal, considering he's the one who made it." _

"…_Th-…" She couldn't get the words out, mostly because of pure shock. "Th-thank you?" She said uncertainly and then left. She didn't even make it to the bed, she collapsed on the rough carpet, put her sleeve to her mouth and screamed. It was muffled and she yelled into her arms until she couldn't yell anymore. Everything was wrong, they shouldn't be so merciful, they shouldn't be so kind to her! That girl, Ashrina, she fucking killed her father for God's sake and she was offering her food and shelter. Wasn't there some sort of law of nature where one wasn't supposed to do that? She didn't know, she might have been nuts with all the insanity going all around there. But she had to admit, in her heart, deep down in the very core of her soul…she loved it. She loved the food and the shelter. She had never known comfort in her life like this, oh sure she and her mother would kill to get into homes. But this was the first time she had ever been offered a home._

* * *

_She could tell by the darkness in her eyelids that it was night, though she still didn't have a clue on how long she had been lying there on the ground, eyes closed but still not falling asleep. She perked her ears when the door opened but kept her eyes closed, though only a fool would realize she wasn't sleeping. She suddenly felt very cold and wished for something to cover up with. The heavy footsteps were definitely male and considering there was only one male in the entire household, she knew it was the Diclonius' husband. Then she felt her body being picked up, and she gasped through tried to hide it off as random sleeping motion. She was just moments from producing her vectors when she felt a soft bed slide underneath her. Was the human, putting her into the bed, this nice soft bed? When a thick sheet was pulled over her, all thoughts of killing this human vanished. How could she possible do it when he was being so generous to her, doing something no human had done for her._

"_Lucy, do you think I did the right thing?" Ashrian said softly, lying on the couch with a pillow propping her head up, the blanket covering and keeping her comfortable. "Should I really have let her stayed?"_

"_I think you made a brave decision in a hard situation." Lucy replied. _

"_Do you think so? Truly?"_

"_I think your parents would've been proud to know that their daughter did not become a killer. What you did was harder than anything most people have done, because you gave someone a chance. I think your father, who I greatly respected would have loved you even more for what you did today."_

_Ashrina sighed, thinking about what Jericho had told them. "There's more than one way to win a war." She said softly. Lucy nodded and Kouta entered the room. _

"_She's asleep now, she's oddly pleasant when she's asleep." He said, sitting into one of the chairs. _

"…_I'll talk to her in the morning." Ashrina mumbled, her voice rather off considering she was now halfway asleep already. _

* * *

_While one was sleeping peacefully in the night, another one was enjoying the nightlight, if at other's expenses. The upper part of Torino's body, his suit ripped and torn and bloody was the only thing that shown. The rest was hidden beneath a brown flood of skin and swollen arms as he his mouth opened and closed. There was blood everywhere, skin and bones and appendages strung around like a chophouse. Out of the 12 Diclonius that had attacked him, one was alive and he was shaking with fear that denied all reality. _

_It might've been the way he regenerated every attack they dealt against him._

_It might've been his dark laughter as he slaughtered all of his comrades._

_Although, it most likely was the fact that this monster had just eaten the Diclonius. The blood running from his lip, though thin, was no his own. He had bit their heads off, ched up on their brains. But what really made him fear this man, was what had happened before and he cursed his stupidity. This monster had actually given them the chance to leave and they didn't. How could have been so foolish? _

"_What will you do…?" Torino whispered, making the Siplitet jump and back against the wall. Torino liquefied, slithering up to him and reforming back into his original shape, the suit forming perfectly so not a scratch was on it. _

"_Tell me, Siplitet who thought you could challenge me. Tell me, Siplitet who thought I was joking when I said I would kill you. What will you do, gazing into the face of a god? Are you scared? You shouldn't be._

_You should be petrified." The Diclonius had fallen over his own two feet, scared beyond belief as Torino bent down on one knee to get head level with him. "I hated everything in this world, because I was unhappy. That's changed, I finally realize that even in this shit hole you call life, there is some joy in it. Do you know what I enjoy?"_

_In an act of pure fear, the Siplitet plunged his vectors into Torion's chest and ripped out his heart, eyes still starring. It didn't help him when the man just started to laugh. "That's right, keep trying…keep ripping. Maybe after a billion tries you may actually do something! Keep trying! Do you know what I enjoy?"_

"_I enjoy slaughtering your kind." He said slowly. "I enjoy watching your fear spread across your face realizing just how futile your efforts are. I enjoy it as before you die, you realize just how idiotic you were. I gave you a chance to run, and you didn't. So now you're going to die, horribly, blood soaking the ground with your screams."_

"_No…No…No…SHIT! SHIT!"_

_Torino charged, his body exploding outwards as did his mouth in which a row of unnaturally jagged teeth were exposed. The Siplitet was thrown against the wall by the monster and the swollen arms ripped inside of him. Teeth sought his own head and crushed into his eyes and skull, blinding him and agonizing him for so long and he was conscious for the entire act as Kakuzawa Torino feasted on his body, finally allowing the Siplitet death, he bit through the brain, and absorbed his Voice._

"_Was such actions really necessary?"_

_Torino turned his head, his skin overlapping and his suit reforming, the hole in his chest regenerating. When he was done, he was clean and bloodless, looking over at Jericho who was leaning casually against the wall, a smoke in his mouth._

"_A bit late out aren't you Jericho?" Torino replied._

"_Perhaps." The old man said nonchalantly._

"_I might have gone a bit over the edge on this one. But it's not like I didn't warn them first."_

"_Which is why…" Jericho said. "I hold no apprehension for your actions. Although I wouldn't recommend you tell anyone about this satiation to Ashrina and the others. You feasting on Diclonius' minds isn't exactly a pleasing feeling to them."_

"_Ha! It only marks me as a monster. I am what I am, changed or not."_

"_How many have you eaten?"_

"_Me. Jericho? Let's see, I believe there are currently 308 Voices inside of my head."_

"_Is there a reason for this? Or have you honestly had a taste for blood this much?"_

"_Ha. I can regenerate, morph my body and I butcher people and drain them. I'm not the vampire Alucard though. I'm just one very powerful, and one very real monster. But to really answer your question, it would seem that by absorbing Voices it allows my predictions to get better, though still imperfect."_

"_Whatever suits you really, I'm glad to see I can finally meet you eye to eye again." Jericho said. _

"_Hm. I'll be keeping an eye out for Serelia though. My predictions are off with her. She's a Voice which manifested herself into another's body. It's like two futures, dead and non-existent floating around. It doesn't help. But she'll show herself, and when it comes."_

_Torino snapped his fingers loudly. "There won't be much left of her."_

"_Will you try to absorb her too? She is after all a Voice." _

"_Her? No." Torino said angrily. "I refuse to let that woman get such satisfaction. She will die and remain dead. Besides, I don't think my Voices would really enjoy her company. Speaking of which…"_

_Jericho didn't flinch or look surprised when Torino turned his head to the side and in a basic sense. Told the air to "Shut the fuck up." _

"_**H-how could you eat me!"**_

"_**Or me!**_

"_**Fucking psycho!" **_

"_**He gave you fair warning."**_

"_**You're saying what he did was right?"**_

"_**We're saying that you were fools for going against him."**_

_*Snap!*_

"_What the others say is true." Torino thought to himself. "You are no longer part of yourselves, you are now part of me. Self created god, Kakuzawa Torino. You have no options, but to do as I say, when I say and how I say it. It your choice though, to see if I will be lenient with you or not."_

"_I'll be going now." Jericho said, seemingly unworried on this weird conversation and then unnatural silence. _

_Jericho turned away, walking until he stopped, a though occurring in his head._

"_Torino?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_Who's Alucard?"_

* * *

_Author's Note: That's right. Torino is so badass right now, he broke the fourth wall and made a Hellsing reference. This was just to add a hint of humor in what is otherwise a very serious fan fiction._


	19. A True Decision

**Ch 19: A True Decision**

_Things were not going well though in the world and Ashrina soon found out that she wasn't the only one having trouble with Serelia. They were watching the news and although it was in English, they didn't need any translation to understand what was happening around the world. Japan, their home had been completely overtaken by the Diclonius along with the eastern most side of Asia. Ashrina knew that these were the Diclonius loyal to Serelia, who believed that they should obey their Dark Queen. It angered Ashrina but she also felt a strange sense of pity in her heart as well. If only those Diclonius could understand that it didn't have to be this way._

"_It's all because Celia died." Kouta said sadly._

"…_Everything's like this because of my mother?" Ashrina asked, looking at the screen showing the bloody bodies of humans and a few Diclonius sprawled out in the streets. "I can't believe this is happening."_

"_You're mother was very important to the Diclonius community." Lucy said. "The Siplitets regarded her as the most important person in their world. She was the Queen at the time and everyone had a deep respect for you."_

"_Mother." Lilium pipped in. "Aren't you a Queen also?"_

"_Yes, dear. Just like you and Ashrina are all Queens. But Diclonius royalty can only be placed with two people, one Queen and one King. My royalty did not go away, but you could say I left the throne. Celia was the next Queen, so naturally the others gathered towards her. Since Ashrina is the daughter of Celia, she's naturally considered next in the line for being the true Queen."_

"_I see." Lilium said. She didn't have any problems with that, or the fact that Ashrina was, in a technical sense, slightly more important than her. She was actually very glad for her friend._

"_Lucy, can you continue?" Ashrina said, Lilium apologizing quickly for interrupting and letting her mother continue._

"_Remember what I told you Ashrina. Celia was a person who the Diclonius respected above everyone else. It's why the Diclonius here feel the need to address you as Queen Ashrina. You are so important to them. But at the same time so is Serelia."_

"_Why?" Ashrina asked, unable to believe that anybody could join with Serelia. But she thought of the 16 year old girl sleeping in her room and the thought came to her. "If that girl is…Serelia's daughter. Who was her father?"_

"_His name was Vonjineu Brutus." _

_Torino had stepped into the house which usually would've struck everyone alarmed but considering he did this on a regular basis, nobody was surprised. That didn't mean they liked him in their house, especially Lilium. She was already scooting near her mother for protection and obviously for good cause. It wasn't like he had given her a pat on the back in the past, and she was half afraid he was going to impale her again._

"_Who?" Ashrina asked perplexed. She couldn't recall being told about a 'Brutus' before. Torino sat down in one of the chairs, which honestly pissed the hell out of Lucy. She hated how he thought he could just come in and make himself at home, clearly uninvited. He had a glass of wine in his hand and slowly sipped it before speaking._

"_Brutus was the last known King that we know of. In history there have only been two recorded King Diclonius. Anything after is mere guess work. The first one was Kakuzawa Franco. Brother to Lucy and half brother to me. Born from Lucy's mother and my own father. He didn't last long though, he was killed by Lucy over here and after that everything went away._

_Kings are a very rare thing for Diclonius mostly because 95% of all Diclonius are females, of that percent, 98% are Siplitets. It's rare enough for a Queen to be born, but a King, even rarer. I realized long ago that this rarity was a hinder to the Diclonius knowing that they could never survive on having a King and Queen mate. _

_Brutus was one in a trillion. The last known King Diclonius in existence. He lead the Diclonius against Japan, taking it over and wanted to have sex with Celia herself. He put an entire army together and then he found Serelia. The Voice of her, and instead he joined with her and fathered Ierina."_

"_That's her name? How do you know that." Nana asked. Torino gave a casual point to his head and Nana gave a downcast "oh." feeling rather stupid. She forgot about the whole 'prediction ability.'_

"_So what happened to him?" Ashrina asked._

_Torino didn't even bother trying to hide the conceited grin on his face now. "He thought that he could beat the god, the idiot. It didn't stop me though, from blowing him apart and sending him straight to hell. However, I came here to discuss a few important details, some of which might actually be useful for all of you. I know you watched the television of our battle, you remember what happened to Serelia?"_

_They did, how she had transformed into a new pure form. _

"_It brings an interesting case on the formation of vectors. I had made a hypothesis long ago but until Serelia's little transformation I never had a way to really test it. It seems I was pretty spot on."_

"_Mind telling us what you're getting at." Lucy angrily mumbled. He could've been passing out chocolates to the kids and she would've still despised Torino. He didn't exactly make himself likable in the first place anyways._

"_You don't have a fucking clue what vectors are do you Elfenliar?"_

"_Wh-what?" Lucy mumbled confused. "Of course I do!"_

"_Then what are they?"_

"_They're arms…"_

"_No Lucy, I mean what are they? What creates them, what forms them? That's what I'm talking about."_

_Lucy went quiet._

"_In the study at Institution 'A' I wondered just how vectors were formed. How was it, that these arms could be created from the mind and yet hold no structure. They surround you but they don't come directly from your body which was quite an enigma for me. These random appendages, appearing out of thin air._

_I could never understand why until Serelia's transformation. Here's the deal. Your arms are merely the default stage of vectors, perhaps thousands of years ago with the first Diclonius. But there are more to the vectors than just the hands._

_You Diclonius give off a specific energy signal inside of the pineal gland in your brain. This signature directly effects the area around you allowing you to effect the atoms and change their structure. The arms are merely a biological adaptation. During the transformation into the pure form, this energy increases, increasing the vector length and power."_

_The others were barely grasping this concept. "How did you know all this?" Lucy asked baffled._

"_It might come as a surprise to you Elfenliar, but we didn't bash your faces in with iron balls just for the hell of it. Experimentation is still experimentations, and while you suffered we got details._

_But enough of that. If Serelia can create her own weapons from vectors, so can all of you. I suggest you start practicing that right now, especially you Ridini Ashrina, you were already pathetic before but now that Serelia has become what she is…well you just aren't good."_

"_Shut up Torino, I'll keep fighting no matter what!" _

"_And what do you plan on fighting with? You couldn't even kill the girl in that room."_

_Ashrina looked over at the area Torino was talking about._

"_It's my choice whether I kill or not." She said sternly narrowing her eyes. "Just because you find some overwhelming need to butcher people and torture them doesn't mean I have to. That's not going to make me important anyways." She turned her head, gazing back at the door where Ierina slept soundly._

"_Hm. Say what you want Ridini Ashrina." Torino growled turning away and walking out the door. "But as long as you show mercy you will never win this war and I refuse to be dragged down because of your incompetence. You may do as you wish, refuse to kill and die along with the rest of your worthless existence. But if that is the case stay out of my way, all of you." He glared at them._

"_Although the worst part of this, is the fact that you are more useful alive then you are dead." _

"_Hm? What do you mean?" Ashrina asked in wonder._

"_You're the Queen, you separate the balance between those loyal to you and humans and those loyal to Serelia. If you were to die, nearly all the Diclonius in the world would revert to Serelia's side and humanity as you know it would cease to exist. But it gets worst."_

_How on earth it could get even worst than it already was, the others didn't have a clue. So they held their silence and waited for Torino to speak again. What he said was shocking as it was truthful._

"_Diclonius need humans to reproduce, the Siplitet gene is clear enough on that point. If you were to die Ashrina there would be nothing to stop Serelia from having her kind kill every last human on Earth. Without humans, Serelia has no way to increase her own kind. Even if another King came, it would only be a short time before they died and because there is such a lack of males in the Diclonius community._

_That bitch Serelia is too caught up in her own damn logical fallacy to see this. She doesn't know or give a shit that the entire life of her species rests in the balance of human's themselves. She honestly believes that all humans have to die, because of some inert feelings inside of her. She doesn't get the idea, that humans, while idiotic at times, are one of the most fascinating creatures on this planet. Jericho was a prime example of this idea, and Serelia in her foolishness doesn't get it._

_She doesn't look beyond the horns on her head."_

"_I'm surprised Torino." Lucy said with a small sly grin. "Helping Ashrina and humans. That's very, remorseful of you."_

"_I know isn't it. I'm just the nicest fucking person in the world now aren't I? Oh, one more thing Kaede"_

"_What?"_

_*Snap!*_

"_Mother!" Lilium cried as Lucy collapsed to the floor, screaming while Kouta rushed to her. Ashrina was on her feet the instant he attacked and glared reproachfully at him. "What is wrong with you!"_

"_Do I honestly need to carry around a sign that says, 'I don't give a damn about any of you.' I don't care about your lives at all, their meaningless to me. But the Diclonius do have some importance to me. I mean, with all of you dead…"_

_And he turned his head, a dark smile playing on his face._

"_What joy could I find in slaughtering you all…?" With these foreboding words Torino took is leave which was well enough as the others had had more than enough with him. His last words sent a shiver down Lilium and Ashrina's spine and Lucy glared at the door in which he left. _

_Celia had been right. "I'm going to kill him the first chance I get." Lucy thought._

"_Good luck with that." Torino's voice said from outside, enticing Lucy's wrath even more._

* * *

_Ierina woke up at first feeling good. She had actually slept well, without nightmares on a full stomach though her heart sunk when she realized just how she had gotten into the situation. She didn't want to get up and acted to just lay in the bed, eyes open and starring at the ceiling and listening to the voices outside. She couldn't tell what they were saying, the voices were muffled by the walls but at some point she had felt a terrible feeling inside of her body. She couldn't describe it, but it had felt awful and yet she knew that she hadn't truly felt the full effects of it._

_Lying in bed, and smelling the fresh air as it washed away the pain, Ierina was more than hesitant to get back up. She was still afraid and she was still in complete wonder on how those in there could be treating her like this. After a good 15 minutes, she got out of bed, and the first thing she noticed was a set of clothes lying at end of the door. She hadn't paid much attention to it, food and lack of sleep had been more important than her clothes but now that she looked at herself she could see the problem._

_Her dress was torn and ripped, ragged in appearance. Yet, she looked at the clothes on the ground like they were a bomb. Then, at long last she swallowed her fear and put them on. They were comfortable and fit easily around her, a violet skirt that seemed to almost shine with a purple light._

_First they give her food and shelter and now clothes._

"_Did you sleep well, Ierina?" Kouta asked kindly though Ashrina glared at her, kindness or not, her feelings towards Ierina did not change. She was still a father murdering girl. Ierina raised her eyebrows._

"_H-how do you know my name?" She asked, never recalling mentioning it to them. She was hesitant to come any closer and Ashrina's look of reproach didn't help her situation either. "And who were you talking to, I heard someone else and…I felt something."_

"_Kakuzawa Torino." Lucy said with a clear sign of disgust in her voice. Ierina wasn't sure if she had heard correctly. "Torino…was here?" She had never seen the man before, or to say she had no recollection of seeing him. She had no clue that she had seen him before, or rather his monster form fighting her mother a few months ago._

"_Don't worry about it." Lucy said after a brief moment of quiet. _

"_That's right." Ashrina continued. "You've stayed your welcome now get out. I don't ever want to see you again." _

_Ierina, with a deep sigh turned to the door. She looked miserable but she also understood that this was going to happen, though it still wasn't easy on her. But she stopped, her hands shaking as they touched the doorknob. Going out there meant living on the streets, searching for food in the dumpsters and her new dress, it would be ripped up by the end of the day. _

"_What are you waiting for." Ashrina growled. "Get out, right now."_

_But Ierina didn't move, the only thing that did was her hand on the door knob which just shook uncontrollably._

"_If you don't go, I'll force you out." Ashrina threatened seriously, raising her vectors to make her point although with Ierina's back turn she wouldn't be able to see them anyways. "I said…" _

"_I can't!" Ierina screamed falling to the floor in a heap of perfect despair, sobbing uncontrollably. "I can't go back…I can't. No food, no shelter…please! I can't go back!" Ashrina was at a lost for words, just starring at the crying 16 year old girl on the floor. Why did it always have to be so hard? Torino was right, she really was the most pathetic person in the world, she couldn't save her family, she couldn't even kill this girl who murdered her father. She couldn't even force her out of the house, she just starred blankly at her, unmoving and somewhat regretful. Everyone else was silent as well, unspeaking as they gazed upon this most miserable girl._

"_Ierina…" Ashrina said closing her eyes in thought. The young girl did not answer, but her chokes had begun to die down now. Ashrina took this moment to continue talking to her. "The room you were in, go in there…now. I want to talk to you about something. Go." She said it quietly, eyes still closed and wondering deep in her heart if she was doing the right thing. Ierina got up, and went to the room immediately because it would mean staying in this warm house if only a little bit longer._

* * *

_The door opened slowly and Ierina, on the bed looked up to see Ashrina step in and close the door behind her. Just looking at her, she thought of her father and how he had died saving his daughter's life. She couldn't help but look at the one who had murdered him and feel a pure sense of contempt. Ierina could almost sense that that anger inside of her and on instinct backed up on the bed. _

"_I don't know what do anymore." Ashrina said quietly, though loud enough for Ierina to hear. "I want to hurt you so badly, I want to kill you and make you pay for everything you did to me. I want to kill you to avenge my father…but I can't." Bowing her head, Ashrina continued to talk._

"_I want to know what happened completely. What happened with you and my father. What did he do exactly?"_

_Ierina wasn't sure how to reply._

"…_Answer me." Ashrina said sternly._

"_I…my mother and I…we found that you were heading to the airport. Mama said that I…I wouldn't have to live like that if I killed you. I thought…I…" She took a deep breath in. "If I killed you, Mama said I could be happy. But then…your father started fighting my mother and this other man, he had one arm came. My mother threw your father away, but she was all cut up and…the two switched places. The one arm man fought with my mother and your father tried to keep me from coming to you._

_He was so quick. He was moving so fast, I couldn't even see him. Everyone was running around, screaming and crying. All I cared was to get to you…and kill you._

_And then…I don't now how it happened. This small boy, he must've gotten lost or something. But he got in the way when I was swinging my vector and your father. He appeared in front and pushed the boy out of the way and…_

_And…_

…_And I cut him in half."_

_Ashrina glared at her, hating her completely but also pitying her. "I killed your father…and I didn't care. All I wanted to do was find you and kill you. That's what Mama told me and she left me. I have nothing…I have absolutely nothing now."_

_She turned her head on the pillow, unable to look at Ashrina anymore. "I tried to kill you, and murdered your father and yet you still showed…compassion to me. I did something that should never be forgiven."_

"_Ierina…" Ashrina said slowly and carefully. "Do you, want to stay here for a little longer?" _

_Ierina opened her eyes wide._

"_Me…stay here?" She gasped._

"_You're going to have to do some work around here. Clean the house and other things like that."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yes. I don't know if I can ever forgive you for killing my father, but I just can't send you out there to rot away. I can't let my hatred overrule me."_

"…_I…I…" Ierina was at a loss for words._

"_Go to sleep, you're probably still tired from all this now." Ashrina gave a nod of her head and turned to leave. Resting her head against the pillow, Ierina closed her eyes and Ashrina thought she had heard a soft mumble from the girl on the bed._

"_Thank you…"_


	20. Grandeur Ultimatum

**Ch 20: Grandeur Ultimatum**

_The fresh blood was like a high to Serelia. She glorified in the murder she had committed with to the small child as his parents watched in utter disbelief and horror. She didn't care that she just slaughtered a four year old child in front of her parents and was currently smirking devilishly at them. She did not care, one single bit, that she had brutally torn this child in half and let him bleed to death, crying for his mother and father. If there was anything she regretted, it not making his suffers last any longer. Taking no heed to their screams, she dealt with the parents._

_The mother would never see light again, her eyes exploding outward in a thick shower of red and white. She didn't even scream as her vocal chords were cut along with her head. The father, frightened but in an act of bravery to avenge his wife and child rushed at the girl, fist drawn. He knew that a vector had grabbed him and he knew his end was coming soon. So he glared at her, spite filled and regretful but he glared as if to die like a man, brave. _

_The splatter of his brain was the alcohol to Serelia. Within the past week she had killed no less than 200 humans in a 300 miles area most of them in the most horrific way possible. She particularly remembered the time she had inserted her vectors into the arms legs and spine of a police officer and while he agonized, she forced him to shoot some bystanders. She loved it, she loved killing them! She was also prideful of another thing._

_Having kept her eye on the television whenever she killed to sleep in a house, she found that nearly all of Eastern Asia was filled with Diclonius. Her kind was spreading, the true kind…glorious! So glorious! But of course there was always a problem. A setback that kept the Diclonius from killing all humans, from really taking control. That girl, who survived more on luck than on her own skills. That bitch, daughter of that bitch who would dare leave her. She, the one who gave her reason. _

_Ashrina. _

_If possible she felt more contempt for Celia's daughter than she felt for Celia herself. She was not a Diclonius, just like her mother wasn't one. She was scum, a human lover. But she was also the Queen and as much as she hated to admit it, there were Diclonius who agreed with her. Not just some but many…so many. Their eyes were blinded, obviously caused by Celia's actions in the past. The stupid bitch who thought she could change the world to where humans and Diclonius could live. What a stupid concept and that was the reason, for her idiocy that she had murdered her. She would no longer be a part of that worthless existence. Oh she could see it in her head, clearly, that day. That grateful day, the day she would never forget. The day she killed her._

* * *

_A wedding in which nearly all the Diclonius community of Japan were a part of, not to mention most of the Eastern seaboard of Asia. It was easy to know about it and when Serelia found out that the bitch would be getting married to that human, she was going to do everything…to make her pay. She watched, with a clear look of disgust at the human standing there, so happily. She would wipe that smile off of his face forever, the dirty filthy human. Then she heard it, the cries of joy and love and respect. Respect for that stupid fucking traitor! Celia would die and Serelia would kill her, murder her! Kill! Kill! Kill!_

_She killed one of the humans first and that got her attention. Oh how she loved theirs creams, how she adored all that gore. She loved it! She enjoyed every single moment of it. The screams were music to her ears, but she also knew that this was only the beginning and though it wouldn't be easy, she was going to do everything she could do kill that girl._

_Her vectors pushed into the ground and she soared into the sky, avoiding the barrage of bullets from Jericho's gun. She rushed back down, face set into a serious grimace and she sent her vectors out to get rid of Jericho. She rushed in, growling as he began to dodge her arms, something, despite telling of his ability to see vectors, she couldn't grasp. He kept her pushed back, his bullets ramming into her vectors as she made a quick turn and flew to the side._

_She struggled against him, cursing him and his weapons. The damn human, of course out of all of them, he would be the one to give her the most trouble. She could see Celia in the near distance and she had to kill her. Kill! Kill! Kill! One bullet hit her in the shoulder, exploding blood everywhere but she kept on going. _

"_Aaaaah!" Celia had finally lost it. This bitch was ruining everything! Her life, her love…she wouldn't allow it. Her vectors formed, an intense hatred bled into Celia's eyes, her screams echoing. The vectors passed Jericho and Serelia was forced to deal with not only the bullets but the stream of arms that attacked her. She kept her heart and head guarded, but as she dealt with the arms, the bullets smashed into her side and legs. She hissed, frustrated but unable to give up. She had to kill her. She had to murder her!_

_Ducking quickly, she pushed off and flew at a great velocity towards her opponent. Jericho aimed and fired, his bullet missing as she jumped into the air in the nick of time. Sending her vectors down on them all. She had a hundred vectors, and she would use them all to get what she desired. She landed back on the ground, her attacks having pushed Jericho and Celia back. _

"_Ha!" Nana's yell caught her off guard as she of course thought no reason to pay attention to the weak Siplitet. "What the?" She mumbled turning on the spot and gasping as the appendage flew at her. Nana's flying fist hit her straight in the face, knocking the wind out of her as she starred in shock. She tumbled one across the ground, the skidded before catching her balance, enraged. "You worthless traitor!" She shrieked, about to send her vectors out. Nana of course would not survive such an onslaught._

"_No you don't!" Celia cried. Serelia cursed mentally and forced her vectors to turn. Serelia and Lucy fought violently, their vectors tearing at each other. Since she had more arms than her, Celia found that herself at the defensive end of the attack. Serelia was merciless, constantly attacking her, vile and cruel as she sent everything to kill her. Celia fought bravely though, because she fought for the love of her family and friends. She might have had less vectors, but she fought equally with her internal self making slashes across her arms and chest but none of them deadly. _

"_No!" She screamed when she another stream of vectors come at her. Lucy had come and now she was dealing with two Queens, two very powerful ones at that. When she saw in the corner of her eyes Jericho aiming his gun, she knew she had to act quickly. It was hard enough fighting Celia alone but with Lucy she knew she couldn't win. If Jericho got in the way, then she knew…that she would die. _

"_AAAAGH!" Her screams echoed and her arms spun out in a wide circle, forcing the others to duck from the vectors that exploded everywhere. Arms ripped across the pavement Serelia, furious attacked Celia first. Her vectors flew out as did her rivals and they attacked, Queen and Queen brutally tearing at one another._

"_I'm going to kill you! I'll kill that human you love so much! I'll kill your daughter!"_

"_No you won't!" Celia screamed, enraged as her eyes widened at this most sinful of words. She sent everything she could at her enemy, Celia almost desperate screamed at the top of her voice. Jericho was aiming carefully, looking a direct opening to either her heart or head and Lucy stood back. But Celia was too close and there were too many vectors._

"_I'm going to kill him!" Serelia mocked before crying out in pain as a large laceration cut across her gut._

"_YOU…WILL…NEVER…HURT…THEM!" Celia shrieked, beyond sanity. She would never let this girl kill them. Never. Nobody would ever hurt her family ever again. Not Torino…or Brutus…or Crease. She would never let her husband or beautiful daughter be slaughtered by this most unforgiving of people. _

_*BANG!*_

_Jericho's opening was short lived, he missed her heart but instead got her in the side. For that brief moment, Serelia in a lack of composure ignored Celia and charged at Jericho. Hate! Hate! Hate!_

_Kill! Kill! Kill!_

_All of her arms rushed out, her velocity kicking off as she sped towards him. His bullets rammed into her arms, pushing her vector back but she could tell that he was tiring. He had grown older. She saw the perfect opening and attacked. The air was filled with blood, spewing out onto the streets, Jericho's left arm ripped from his sockets. He stepped back, eyes narrowing with the pain that was searing across his shoulder. _

"_DAMN YOU!" Celia roared once again engaging Serelia in battle. Both of them were weak, having taking multiple amounts of damage in their fight. Celia fought more bravely than she had ever fought. She fought to kill but to kill for the loves of her life. Never…would she ever forgive or forget this girl, who turned her life into a living a hell. Whom she hated more than her pain at Institution 'A'. Whom she despised more than watching her friends die before her eyes. Whom she utterly hated more than Kakuzawa Torino. Serelia would die._

_*Slice!*_

_Pause…_

_A long silent pause. _

_Gasping, Celia at first couldn't tell what had happened…a pain had struck her midsection and she could smell blood. Blood coming from herself. Visions of Frederick and Ashrina crossed her mind before the upper half of her body dropped to the ground, separated from her lower half. _

_It was painful and blurry, her body shaking uncontrollably. She had no idea where Serelia was at but she did notice a figure over her, crying. Frederick held her to his chest, expressing his love to her. She returned it…and then it faded. Her mind…and her body._

_And Serelia, bleeding profusely but alive, gazed from the top of the building, hidden from the others…and smiled._

_Smiled like the devil at this act she had committed._

"_It's what you get…you stupid bitch! It's what you deserve! You are no longer the Queen, you are dead. You worthless piece of shit…you're dead. Hehehe…you were nothing without me. Nothing. Too bad…dear…little…Celia."_

* * *

_Ierina proved to be more helpful than she had originally let on and had done more cleaning around the house than the others. When the kitchen was shining near spotless, Ierina got up from the floor, rag wet in her hand and wiped the small bead of sweat from her forehead. She was determined to do the best she could do around the house, for the kindness they showed her. Kindness she never thought even existed until now. In most cases she would work alone although Ashrina, Nana or Lilium would help her out. Kouta had offered to help but she had refused._

_She felt very uneasy around him, not because she didn't want his help but because she thought of she might do to him. He a human, a kind one at that, but a human nonetheless. For her entire life she had always been told that humans were scum deserving the most brutal of death. She didn't want to hurt Kouta, but she also didn't want to put herself into a bad position either. So she decided that until she could really get herself under control, she wanted to put at least some distance between her and the human._

_An hour later while she and the others were sitting in the room quietly, a guest came in. The others instantly went on the defensive as vectors popped out and made the room heavy. She wasn't sure why this white suited man could be causing so much hassle for everyone._

"_What's going on Torino?" Lucy asked seriously._

_Now Ierina knew shy and she pulled out her vectors as well. Torino sat in the chair calmly and his lack of concern surprised Ierina greatly. She had never met a human who could look at 5 Diclonius and not even bat an eyelash. _

"_This is it. We need to act now." He said slowly, crossing his arms. His face was cold serious and Lucy despite her hate for him knew he must have important information to give. _

"_What's going on, is it Serelia?"_

_Ierina shuddered when her mother's name was mentioned. _

"_Indeed. My predictions have indicated that in the next two days, all of the Diclonius that been corrupted to Serelia's side in Asia will come here to North America. We're talking no less than 10,000 human hating Siplitets that want Ashrina and the rest of you dead. The moment these numbers hit, all is lost. Under Serelia's command they will never listen to you and all you'll be able to do is run. You will only be able to hide and at some point they will find you and kill you all._

_Because it won't stop there. What will be 10,000 will then become 100,000. It will be like a virus spreading and I can promise you this. If such a thing happens, then in the next short month, 85% of the human population will be completely obliterated."_

_He had lost them when said that 10,000 Diclonius would be coming over. It had been problematic when Brutus and his army had come and that had only been 200 Diclonius. 10,000, even with their powers, fighting 10,000 Diclonius was synonymous with putting a gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger. It was suicide. But despite all hope dropping down the drain, Ashrina was defiant._

"_I don't care if it's a million. Serelia can't get away with this, and I'll fight even if I die trying. I never stop. I'll never surrender."_

_The others gave her a long look, contemplating what she had said while Torino narrowed his eyes. "You have never killed in your life. What makes now any better?"_

"_Nothing." Ashrina replied seriously. "I may never kill but that doesn't mean I'm just going to let Serelia win. I…will..never…give…up." She said each word as seriously and as sternly as she possibly could. _

"_You know…" Torino said. "You really are just like your blasted mother. Annoying and a thorn in my side…but a girl who always continued to fight. Remember that the only person who has to be killed is Serelia. She dies, all the Diclonius will revert to Ashrina's side…and this long egoistical war will finally be over."_

"_You're…going to kill my mother?" Ierina mumbled catching the attention of everyone around her. Torino narrowed his eyes, frowning deeply. "Of course did you honestly think there was any other way? She has to die and even if you are her daughter you should have realized that this would happen."_

"_I-I know but…you don't…"_

_Ashrina didn't realize just how much this would effect Ierina. She didn't realize that Ierina was more attached to her mother, despite what she did to her daughter, than Ashrina had ever imagined. Yes, she wanted Serelia dead, but could she honestly have her killed if it would only upset Ierina? Ashrina has grown a deep bond with Ierina, treating her like a sister. Likewise Ierina had tried her best to cope in, she had stopped killing humans and did her best to help out._

"_Whatever you feelings you have is no concerned to me." Torino said savagely. "I've made that point more than clear. I do this only for myself just as I helped Celia only for myself. I don't need Diclonius or humans to survive, my existence alone sets me into an eternal path. But as I said before, what fun is there in life if there's nothing in it? There's no use in living in a world that has nothing after all."_

"_But that's my mother!" Ierina said loudly._

"_AND YOUR MOTHER IS CURRENTLY FUCKING UP ALL EXISTENCE!" Torino roared. "Maybe it hasn't occurred to your shit little brain but your mother doesn't give a two cent damn about you." The man shook with renown fury, eyes wide and insane. "It's time you fucking bitches and bastards understood what's going on. As long as Serelia lives, you are all screwed."_

"_Shut up Torino." Ashrina said coldly._

"_Or what?" He roared before something hit him in the chest, making him gasp. Ashrina had plunged her vectors in his body and his chest was burning and rotting away._

"_Guh?" He couldn't speak as he just starred at her, partly in surprise, partly in fury, and partly in wonder. Vectors were streaming around Ashrina but they didn't end in hands. They ended in long twisted pikes, pikes that Torino could clearly see. Ashrina was glaring hatefully at him, her red eyes taking on a pitched black look and their was an obvious sign of increase length in her horns._

"_Why you…" Torino grumbled._

"_You said I should be able to kill if I ever wanted to win. Well maybe my first murder will be you."_

"_You ungrateful little girl." Torino growled, bringing up his hand. Ashrina didn't falter, but she did tense up. _

"_Ashrina, please settle down." Kouta said. _

"_Yes, you're getting out of control." Nana pipped in._

_Lucy eyes moved from Ashrina to Torino. It looked like the time when Torino had come to speak to Celia and the others about Brutus. They had beaten the ever loving shit out of each other and it looked like the same thing was about to happen now._

_But they didn't. Ashrina ripped out her vector from Torino's chest who grunted in pain and regenerated the wound. "I love my family and my friends. Ierina, I'm sorry but if your mother has to die, then it will have to be. But if it helps, I will give her one chance."_

"_Thank you…Ashrina."_

"_Gah. You Diclonius are so unbearable, every time I think I'm starting to understand you, you bypass my mind. To even think of trying to help someone like Serelia…there is something seriously wrong with you all." Torino growled._

"_It's called remorse." Lucy said. "You heard of it?"_

_Torino looked at her. "Again with that notion that I am merciful?"_

"_Yes. You're one hell of a bastard, but the fact that you helped Celia. The fact that you gave that small coin. The fact that your willing to help Ashrina and all of us. Snap your fingers all you want." She said as Torino raised his hand and then stopped._

"_Whether you want to admit or not, you are not nearly as bad as person as you claim to be. You proved that a while ago and while I never knew you in the past, the Kakuzawa Torino back is not the same as the Kakuzawa Torino that is standing before me. So tell me, to my face that you truly don't give a damn about any of us. Say it…right now."_

"_Well…what is your answer…Kakuzawa Torino?"__ The Voices in his head said, almost cockily. Torino got up, his head turned away. "Those Diclonius will be heading this way by ship. I will not be able to deal with all 10,000 but I will be able to deal with any that I see. I've already sent Jericho out on recon, when Serelia is spotted, and she will be soon, he try to keep most of the Siplitets at bay. It's best if there's little interference in the fight against Serelia."_

_He turned, glaring at Ashrina._

"_It's your choice on whether or not you kill her. I can't force that on you. But I will say this. If you lose Ashrina…I'll personally drag you down to hell."_

"_So be it…Kakuzawa Torino." Ashrina said, a surprisingly an arrogant smile played across the young Queen's face._

"_Kakuzawa-Sama?"_

_Torino was caught off guard by this rather formal address of his name by Lilium. "Don't call me that, it's annoying…but what is it?"_

"_Thank you…you're not as bad you claim."_

"…_Fuck off." He said slowly turning around, but as he turned to the door, he paused. "…You know…" He said slowly. "…Despite how much I hate your kind…you Diclonius really are one of a kind. You fight against me and my powers and you don't give up."_

_And as he turned to exist, he said. "Good luck…"_

* * *

_The two stood at the dock as night overcame the States, both of the smoking a single cigar as if it would be the last one they would ever have. "So this is where it comes to, the final part of this war. At long last, I can finally see the end of this egoistical war." Torino said slowly._

"_Do you still hate Ridini Ashrina?" Jericho said calmly, watching the puffs of smoke fly into the air, his body leaning on his cane._

"…_I use to hate everything…that's changed. I'm not going to say I enjoy her but I will say this. I'd much rather deal with a world in which she lives in, then one that Serelia does."_

_Jericho said nothing for a while but the spoke. _

"_Despite your ethics, you were a good leader. A man who made his choices up to the very end. Someone who I respect perhaps for my entire life. Though with my age that might not last long."_

_Torino gave a short chuckle._

"_Enjoy it. It's something I'll never know. It's merely one of the grander things that humanity has to offer."_

_And though it might have been hard to see through the bushes of his moustache. There was an odd raising of Jericho's skin around his mouth…almost as if he had smiled. _

_Torino closed his eyes. Listening to the waves hit the dock. __"We're ready, Torino." __The Voices said. _

"_Let's end this…" He said as Jericho nodded once. The white suited man slowly walked and then broke into a sprint, his body mutating outwards. With a swift kick he jumped off the pear and dived head first into the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. His body contorted, his mind stretching. He grew, his spinal column spreading and extending as his head became large and bulbous. Six slanted eyes narrowed while 10 massive arms sprouted from the baseline of his neck, swollen and deadly._

_The kraken pushed his massive tail back and forth, pushing himself through the deep sea before reaching the shallows and taking an ever deeper dive. Torino dove deeper until his arms touched the sandy underwater dunes._

"_It's time to feast…" He thought._

* * *

_She didn't think it was possible but she was getting full on killing humans. She wasn't sure how many she had killed today, she had lost count at 642. All that bloodshed, all their screams…it was her medicine. She didn't think it could get any better until she just happened to turn the television to the news. They were coming all those Diclonius, and she knew it was for her. To serve her. There stood just one obstacle in her way…Ridini Ashrina._

"_Sleep well child…" She though, almost imagining the girl sleeping calmly in her bed._

"_Sleep with pleasant dreams and a wide smile. Remember all the happy memories that you have ever had. Remember your bitch mother and human scum father. Remember it all…taste it. I want you to know all the happiness in your life._

_Because that's over. I'll kill your friends. I'll butcher every person you ever loved or cared about. I'll make you watch._

_Watch with wide eyes, stare into their deaths. Then…in the moment of your despair, I will end your life. I will end you and humanity…_

_Forever!"_

* * *

_Author's Note: Wow! Over 4,000 words, a new record. Well my readers were comming up to the final throbs of the chapters. The final showdown with Chiba Serelia is underway. _

I want to express my graditude for all who have read and review these stories, which without I may not have been able to continue writing.


	21. That Which Is Superior

**Ch 21: That Which Is Superior**

_Vectorization. That was what Jericho had referred to it as, the ability to change the structures of the vectors into a more compatible shape. The others found that their vectorization was rather unique to their own self and it seemed nobody had the same one. Or rather to say, nobody seemed to be able produce the same kind of vectors as the others. Had the situation that they were in not been so grave, it would've been a fun experiment to see just what they could do now._

_Ashrina's thin pikes seemed to embody more of agility than actual strength. Their quickness allowed her to jab and stab quickly and accurately._

_Lilium's ability did not grant her strength or speed, but an incredible increase in defense. Concentrating, not only could she create areas of condensed vectors like shields, but she could make them in other directions. It was especially useful when she was able to create a shield blocking Ashrina's side while simultaneous moving her own vectors at will._

_The vectors with Ierina were rather unique as they were not offensive or defensive. It was very similar to Nana's ability to cancel out Vectors by inserting her own in the pineal gland. However unlike Nana she did not have to touch the pineal gland. Instead she was capable of distorting the area around her, canceling out the vector effect. By concentrating, she could effect that which was around her and not others. However it also tired her out greatly and having done it only twice, she was already panting heavily._

_And it wasn't unknown that Ierina wasn't as ready to fight as the rest of them were. Ashrina could tell that she lacked motivation to kill her mother and in a sense, Ashrina could understand it. She'd kill anyone who say they were going to kill her own mother and here she was about to murder Serelia, mother of Ierina. Serelia certainly didn't care about Ierina and Ierina knew that. However, there was just that underlying principle in the matter. Serelia was wicked, with no chance or hope. An animal who fed on death and despair. A creature who did not know love only lust and wickedness. A sad creature who couldn't see anything but herself._

_As if an omen, a cold breeze brushed passed Lucy's shoulder and as if to signify oncoming doom, dark clouds were hovering above. The shadows crept over the land and the rain began to fall steadily, making them all go inside._

* * *

_The waves crashed against each other and lightning flashed. The dark gloom of the sea bombarded by the raindrops. Thunder rumbled through in the raging storm of the ocean. The Kraken pushed his way through calmly, caring nothing for the storm or the lightning, as what did he have to fear from some mere storm? Torino's massive veined head popped out of the water, two of his six slanted eyes looking around._

"_Ha." He though haughtily seeing them in the distance. Ships, at least 80 of them coming towards him, though of course he dived before they could really get a look at him. A long line of ships, stolen from Japan and quite possibly elsewhere to create a Diclonius armada. The raging storm was the perfect picture for such a battle, and he wondered just how much joy he would get in slaughtering them all. Diving deeper into the raging water, he swam until at least he was underneath the ships, all of them, unable to tell that a beat was beneath them._

"_What's this?" he though, his mind clicking. Submarines were coming, he had not expected this but it still didn't change anything. However that would also be the first thing he would deal with. _

"_Redic, I think I saw something." A male Siplitet said looking at the radar. The one called Redic shook his head disappointedly. "You didn't see anything idiot. Besides, what the hell could possibly be out there?"_

_The Siplitet had no answer to give. _

_*Beep!*_

"_Redic! I…I'm sure I saw something. But by the time Redic came around there was nothing._

"_Have you been putting your vectors in your brain again?" Redic said coldly. "There is nothing there now pay attention you worthless creature. Seriously if I didn't know any better I'd say were as stupid as a human."_

"_I'm…sorry…"_

_*BEEP!* *BEEP!*_

_It was loud and this time even Redic could hear it. "What the hell?" He said coming over to the radar. "Shit! What the hell it's right on top of us!" _

"_What is it?" Another Siplitet said._

"_The hell if I know." He said, looking up at the ceiling in anger. Arms coming up and drove through the upper submarine like a ghost. Torino chuckled to himself as he felt the appendages drive into his flesh._

"_What in the world?" Redic said, feeling something abnormally large. He expected a whale had flown over them. Well he'd get rid of that problem soon enough and twisted his arms back and forth. Torino's flesh was ripped apart and of course it made no difference to him. He regenerated the wounds easily and wrapped his massive tail around the submarine._

_The room shook, all of the Siplitets gasping in horror. "What's going on?" _

"_Shut up." Redic said, though he too was worried. "It's just…fuck what do they call it…the fucking current or some shit like that."_

"_We can't move! Something's got us!" _

"_Stupid idiots." Redic growled and smacking the Siplitet with his vectors from the controls. He pressed a button to open up the windows. The lights on the sub flashed on and Umikus Redic saw something that made his blood turn cold._

"_Oh shit…" he said, starring into the face of the monster that was wrapping itself around them. "It's you…It's you…" He shuddered, relieving himself right there in front of everybody. _

"_Pissing yourself in fear huh?" Torino's voice boomed loudly despite being on the outside of the ship in the water. "How fucking pathetic."_

"_K-ka…" Redic couldn't speak. Because he knew…that they were about to die."_

_He rushed to the microphone, fear gripping him. He had to make contact with the ships above. He had to…_

"_GAH!" Water rushed in as Torino broke the sub in half, the pressure building up as the Diclonius began to drown and die. The kraken swam through and crushed them, breaking them apart into pieces and to satiate his wants, devoured them. Their minds becoming a part of his own._

"_Is that…blood?" A female said from one of the ships, looking down at the water. "GAH!" She screamed as half a body was flung out of the water into her face. The upper half of a body, Redic's face contorted in unimaginable horror._

"_What the fuck!"_

_Screams everywhere, she turned and saw to her up most horror, arms coming out of the sea. They crashed into the ships, breaking them apart as the guns fired wildly at them. The bullets tore but did nothing more but seemed to almost enrage the beast. Slicing through the metal like butter, something emerged from those storm torn waves. _

"_It's him.." She said slowly as the monster rose from the sea. "It's him…" She shuddered, dropping to her knees. "…Kakuzawa Torino…" she mumbled before the gigantic arm snuffed her life away._

_The water was filled with smell and taste of blood. Torino killed without pause and absorbed anybody he could into his being._

"_What's wrong children?" He said dementedly looking at their faces which shook with fear and regret. _

_Destruction and death._

_Demise._

_Regressing back into his human form, Torino hopped out of the water and landed on the nearest ship. The Diclonius stepped back, bravery wasn't the issue here, it was trying to get as far away from this bastard as they could. _

"_You bastard."_

_His arm swung out, grabbed the one who said it, and chomped on his head. _

"_FUCKING CANNIBAL!"_

_And Torino lowered his head. "What did you say, Diclonius?" He seemed to be almost serious with his question. _

"_You just…ate her! You bastard! You ate her."_

"_You called me a cannibal?"_

"_Of course! Monster!"_

"…_That's interesting." Torino whispered. "Do you know what a cannibal is? A cannibal is something that eats its own kind. What do that make you then?"_

_His words caught them off guard. _

"_Are you saying that I am a Diclonius, because I ate them? Or perhaps you mean to say that you are a monster like me. Do you mean, that you human? Well…answer me."_

_But they couldn't._

"_I'd like to ask a question, who came first Diclonius or humans."_

"_Screw you." One of them roared. "Humans are scum and we aren't humans you bastard. B-besides…Diclonius were the first ones here. We're the dominant race!"_

"_How amusing. It never occurred to you all did it? You thought that you were the evolutionary line from humans, the superior ones right? It never occurred to any of you, that it's the opposite. Humans evolved from you. You are all inferior."_

"_SHUT THE HELL UP!"_

"_Hahahahaha! Curse it all you want but you can't deny it. Humans are fascinating creatures, they survive on their will. They have something that you Diclonius will never have. Consciousness. So before I kill you all and make you a part of me, I want you ask your Voices something._

_Just how much worth there was in losing your lives to this war."_


	22. Goodbye Dear Sister

**Ch 22: Goodbye Dear Sister**

"_Papa!" Nana cried joyously when on the next day Kurama appeared at their house. Yet he wasn't alone, there were people with him. Ashrina, Lilium and Ierina of course didn't know these people and the first two Diclonius girls were at a bit awe that Nana's "Papa." had decided to come. They didn't even know her father was alive. Of course after being told who Kurama really was, it became easier to understand._

_As with the first time, Kurama had his own set of Diclonius acting like personal guards for him. Even though they had only met once, Lucy recognized Erika, Flavia Yuzuu and the one male Siplitet Ken. They certainly had grown in the years and their respect for Kurama had anything but diminished. _

"_Jericho gave us word of what was going to happen." The spectacle man said seriously. "We're going to do our best to stop Serelia and make her pay for everything she did to you Ashrina. You and your family."_

"_As long as I can kill those pink haired bitches, do whatever you want."_

_Lucy didn't have to see him to recognize the arrogant and brutal voice of Bandou. He had not only aged he had grown, his muscles almost bulging. For a brief moment, Lucy was reminded of Vetus Crease. He definitely hadn't let himself go in the past years, and truth be told, she expected nothing less of the first human to ever challenge her._

_But it was when Jericho returned that they found out just how much help was on their side. The black coated man returned trailed behind him were Siplitets, all of them willing to help Ashrina and the others. All of them willing to die. Ashrina, in the deepest pits of her heart felt gratitude that went to the top of the heavens. _

_But at the same time she had to shake her head. "You can't do this, not for me. I can't let you all die just for my sake."_

"_Listen kid." Bandou said gruffly. "We all came here to fight. None of is leaving and none of us is going home. It's bad enough I'm surrounded by all you horned freaks."_

"_Hey Bandou. You want to calm down a bit?" Ken said raising an eyebrow._

"_You wanna bring it!" Bandou retorted shaking a fist at Ken who took a step back in alarm. _

_But the Diclonius felt a rush of energy overtake them. "Serelia." Ashrina said, feeling that coldness rush over her. It would seem she was waiting no longer, she was trying to bring them out but of course Ashrina knew who she wanted. She was not scared but she was uncertain. This was it, there was no turning back now. They had to kill Serelia or else die and have both humans and Diclonius go extinct. _

* * *

_It was the final lap of the race and Serelia could finally see the finish line. All the humans would be dead…so soon…so very soon. Her black wings spread like an accursed angel, her horns bent down. Those red eyes floating in the black corneas and the two single long vectors emerging from her shoulders. She held her spear, clenched it tightly wanting to see Ashrina's blood. _

_Kill…_

_Kill…!_

_KILL!_

_This ultimate high, to kill Ashrina would glorify everything. She was the last thing in the way, not even Lucy would matter. Lucy could survive, they could all survive though she would never allow it. But once Ashrina was dead at her feet, humans would no longer live. The Diclonius would all come to her side and they purge this world of the scum that lived in it. She would create that perfect pristine world of the horned ones._

"_You were such a fool Celia." She thought to herself. "You could've had this perfect world that is to come, but you lost it. You went for the humans and what happened. You died. Bitch. _

_I'm going to kill her._

_I'm going to kill Ashrina."_

_Guns shots echoed in the distance, where the other Siplites were located. But that didn't concern Serelia, more were coming. Many more. She would have every Diclonius on her side, killing every human and traitor that existed. _

_And she saw them. Four of them._

_Elfenliar "Lucy" Kaede._

_Elfenliar Lilium_

_Ridini Ashrina_

_And…_

_She narrowed her eyes and blinked rapidly._

"…_Ierina?" She said slowly but loud enough for the girl to hear. Her daughter flinched until Lilium put a soothing hand on her shoulder. _

"_What are you doing?" Serelia asked darkly._

"_I'm…I'm…" The poor child as choking on her own words._

"_You aren't…betraying me are you?" Her voice was sinister._

"_I…but…I AM!" She shrieked with as much sound as she could muster, her voice echoing. "You never cared for me, not at all! You wanted me to kill Ashrina even though she never did anything to me. I…HATE YOU!"_

"…_Say that again?" Serelia mumbled._

"_I hate you!"_

"_My own child…Pure Queen of the Diclonius…a human lover? You are a human lover? A human lover! A HUMAN LOVER! HOW DARE YOU CHIBA IERINA!" Beyond pissed, Serelia took her spear and threw it at Ierina who was too frightened to do anything. Acting immediately, Lilium concentrated and the spear was deflected before it could hit Ierina._

"_Hm? What was that?" Serelia said perplexed. "Have you human lovers learned some new tricks? It won't help you."_

_Lucy never felt more stress in her entire life. How could she possibly let her bring her daughter into this mess. She stepped forward, bringing out her vectors and emerging into her pure form. "Stand back." She said coldly. She just couldn't let her daughter or the rest of them die. She was willing to be killed, she had willing given Kouta the gun on that faithful day and was willing to be shot. He didn't of course, he didn't shoot her but instead took her in with her, as her friend, her lover and husband. _

_She had done many things, most of which were bad, but there was some good. But the children, so young and tender…she could never let them die so early. _

"_Gah!"_

"_Mother!" Lilium cried, blood spurting from Lucy's left shoulder. Blood dripping from the black vector spear, Serelia had dealt the first blow. "What's wrong, Lucy? You're daughters going to die unless you do something."_

_Lucy's vectors missed her target and she was stabbed in the leg, her cries stifled by her own willpower. Lilium had enough, she screamed and shot out her vectors, a strange sense of anger surrounding her. Her vectors were longer, her eyes pitched black…and yet it didn't stop Serelia from smack her away casually._

"_Lilium!" Ashrina cried. Things were not going well, Serelia was toying with them, unconcerned. _

_Another slash across Lucy's other shoulder, blood spewing out. Her vectors were to weak and too slow. Lucy was being pummeled again and again and everyone knew that if Serelia wished for it, Lucy would die at any time. That time came now, as Serelia soon tired of messing with Lucy. She aimed her spear, and rushed at Lucy's heart._

_*whoosh*_

_Shocked, Serelia's own spear distorted and vanished. "I…I won't let you do it…mama." _

"_YOU TRAITOROUS PIECE OF BLOOD!" Serelia screamed at the top of her lungs, rushing at her. The left vector swooped to the side before hitting Lilium's shield. "I'LL KILL YOU! YOU ARE NO CHILD OF MINE!" _

_She turned around, forming another spear in her hand and chucked it swiftly at Lilium. The girl could not completely avoid it and it pierced through her side, spewing out blood. Lucy was caught in a brief moment of shock where she couldn't breathe nor see but the hurt body of her child._

"_You bitch!" she shrieked, her vectors exploding out. All of them…all 50 of them would be used to kill Serelia. And they were blocked, by the explosion of Serelia's own 100 vectors._

"_What?" She said coldly. "Did you really think I couldn't use all my vectors. Idiots."_

"_No! Mother! Mother!" No matter what Lilium did, she couldn't stop Serelia from utterly kicking the shit out of Lucy. Ashrina couldn't take it, she threw her vectors out, her rage increasing but the pikes were blocked so effortlessly._

"_Don't worry Ashrina…" The witch muttered. "You'll get your chance." Ierina tried to distort the vectors, but 100 was too much, she could only effect so many. One of Serelia's hand rushed out and grabbed her daughter by the throat holding her up in the air. "I have no use for a child who doesn't understand her place. You obviously want to be a human lover, so you'll die with all the humans you love so much._

_And you…" She continued, knocking Ashrina away just as casually as before. "I'll deal with you soon enough. You should be praying, wishing for a quick death. If you beg, I might give it to you. Hahahahahaha!"_

_They were losing. They were going to die. Not unless a miracle happened. Their vectors were useless but…"_

_A sudden thought came to Lucy._

"_There is more than one way to win a fight." She had nearly forgotten about it. But it was still on her, she had had personally asked for it by Jericho. "ASHRINA! GET READY!" She could tell the plan, it was the spur of the moment. She could only hope that fate would be on their side. _

"_FOOL!" Serelia cried, ready to lop off Lucy's head. She saw her arm move behind her, expecting more vectors and was left in stunned shock when the Queen actually pulled out a gun. Lucy had never used one, she had always used her vectors. She didn't know how they worked, or how to reload. But how hard could it be pull a trigger._

_*BANG!* It was strong, the recoil causing a swift ache through her arm. At such close range, Serelia couldn't deflect it entirely and the bullet smached into her shoulder. "You utter piece of shit!" Serelia screamed, enraged before something out of the corner caught her eyes._

_Ashrina, face contorted with rage threw her pike forward…Serelia's face shocked as the vector rushed at her heart…and was deflected._

"_No…" Ashrina said, her eyes widening as her attack missed. _

"_Too bad…" Serelia smiled. "…Dear little Ashrina." _

_*BAM!*_

_Ashrina did three full flips, the blow knocking the wind out of her before she landed on her back with a loud crash. "Ugh…*koff*" So weak, they were so weak. They were in pure forms, the vectors long and power…their abilities unique. But they were so weak._

_*stab!*_

_Spewing out blood, Ashrina screamed as the spear was jabbed into her, missing her vital organs but the pain was more than obvious. A vector hit her across the face, turning her skin red. "Miserable child…" Serelia mumbled. "How does it feel to be killed by your own mother?"_

"_What?"_

"_Remember, I was a part of Celia. I am her, but better."_

"_Screw you!" Ashrina choked. "My mother was a honest and wonderful person. Better than you'll ever be."_

_*SMACK!*_

_Another blow to her face._

"_No. You're mother was a human loving bitch who didn't know her place. That's why I killed her. I want you to think of her face and the pain she was in when I killed her."_

_The next blow didn't come. Her vector distorted and vanished before Serelia glared angrily at Ierina. "…Chiba Ierina…" She said slowly. _

"…_It's time…"_

_Her wings spread out._

"…_For you…"_

"_The spear was ready._

_*STAB!*_

_Ierina stumbled backwards as the vector spear rammed into her heart. Her eyes widening, starring down at the weapon inside of her. The child shook, blood leaking out of her mouth, and her eyes dimming. The light slowly fading from her eyes._

"…_To die…" Serelia whispered pulling the spear out which dripped with blood. Blood from the child she had birthed herself. With a slow fall, Ierina collapsed on the ground, shaking and dying. _

"_Ierina?" Ashrina said softly, coming to her._

"…_I'm…" The girl mumbled. "I'm…s-sorry. I really am. I'll never forget what you did for me. Thank you…" She shook and then…there was nothing. Chiba Ierina was dead after 3 seconds of painful throbs with Ashrina starring at her lifeless body._

"_Bitch." Serelia muttered rolling her eyes._

"_How could you?" Ashrina replied coldly. "How could you do that to your own child?"_

"_What child of mine?' Serelia mocked._

"_She was…you ruined her life. She was…She was my sister! A dear sister who tried to change her life for the better. I can't believe you."_

"_I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Enraged, vehemence, brutality. No way could Ashrina allow this to continue. She didn't care if she died, she didn't give a shit. Serelia had to be killed. She had to die._

…_and it was horrible, that Ashrina, no matter how many times she attacked, could do nothing to Serelia. She couldn't avenge Ierina who willing attacked her own mother and fought to protect her._

"_You're just like Celia." The mistress of darkness proclaimed. "She never knew her place. You remind me so much of her. You need to be taught a lesson. Dear little Ashrina. NOW YOU DI…wha?"_

_*BAM!*_

_A fist hit her square across the cheek, her vision dimming from the blow before she collapsed a few meters away, sliding roughly across the cement street. Who in the hell was getting in the way now? She picked herself up, and looked. She glared even more angrily at who had come. Of course…fucking of course. _

"_Torino…" she growled. _

"_**You must have been having fun kicking around children." **__His voice was odd. His voice could be heard but it was strange and echoing, as if multiple people were talking at the same time. __**"And you even killed your own daughter. That's really sad Serelia. You birth her, only to kill her?"**_

"_What happened to you?" Serelia demanded at once, caring nothing for what she did to her daughter. She wasn't even her daughter, she was just some human lover. "Where have you been? What did you do to yourself?"_

"_**Me? I took the liberty to crush most of the Diclonius coming here by sea. It wasn't hard…and then I took my liberty to do something else. You are now facing Kakuzawa Torino…self created god of the world. **_

_**Let's see what you can do. Chiba Serelia, single Voice. Let's see what you can do against a god…**_

_**Of over 5,000 voices."**_


	23. Choices

**Ch 23: Choices**

_There is no visible change in Torino except for his voice which is like the sound of just as he says. 5,000 Voices saying the exact same thing in an echo. His white suit is the same. His white pants are the same. His white tie has not changed at all. His neat brown hair is no different from what it was before. Even his hazelnut eyes have no changed. Yet he stands their with confidence and without fear. It is at last that Lucy understands what Torino means._

_To never give up. To never surrender. It doesn't matter if Serelia was a thousand times stronger. As long as he exists, Torino can't give up. She finally understands the reason for this. It's because Torino no longer has anything left to go for. She now understands it all. He is a god, a myth that everyone will know about. He fears nothing…_

_But one thing._

_He fears to be unimportant. He fears that his name will not be known. So he continues because he must exist. He must exist to be known. Now Lucy finally understands what Kakuzawa Torino means. Torino does not fear death or Serelia or any of them. What he fears is that sense that everything he has worked for, the good and the bad will be for nothing. _

"_**This is it…Voice." **__Torino says, his face twisting and contorting so that six slanted eyes now face the Dark Queen. He is pitiless and relentless. He is himself, Kakuzawa Torino. And he knows, as he stands there, face to face with creature that has ruined his life. He's going to be important. He's going to fight even if none is possible. He's going to attack, relentless and pitiless because he is a god. He is a god who will not exist forever and he knows it. But until that time comes…it doesn't exist. He exists._

_His heart exists. _

"_Dammit!" Serelia curses loudly, Torino dodging and duck through her vectors. He avoids them easily, dodges them as if they were moving two times slower than usual. The black smoky arms cannot reach him, they don't even come close to knocking a stand of hair off. He doesn't even attack, he just dodges so simplistically that is pisses Serelia off. _

"_Shit! If these arms weren't visible…you wouldn't be able to do this!"_

"_**Invisible?" **__Torino replies. __**"Here then." **__He closes his eyes and turns his back to Serelia. _

"_**My back is turned…my eyes are closed…bring it on, Voice."**_

_!_

"_GODDAMN HUMAN!" Her shrieks are obvious to her anger. Torino is mocking her, the man who put her in that forsaken institution. So she gives it to him alright, she sends out her vectors knowing well that they will rip him to pieces. _

_And he dodges. His back is turned, his eyes are closed, and yet he dodges every single one. Turning around and opening his eyes, Serelia's glare of shock and fury is great to him. _

"_There's no way…" She muttered. "I won't let this happen. Humans, all of them must die."_

"_**I asked this to one of your friends before I absorbed them. Serelia, do you know humans are evolved from Diclonius?"**_

_It wouldn't have mattered even if Torino gave a whole lecture with facts. Serelia would never accept it. "Don't you dare lie to me. Human!"_

"_**Deny it all you want Serelia. But that's the truth. You couldn't survive on your own, vectors mean nothing. Why do you think the human race is on the top of the food chain. It's because they don't allow their minds to control them. It comes down to this one, specific thing.**_

_**Choices.**_

_**Everybody has a choice. You have never made a choice. You blindly follow in your own glory. You are just a Voice, a thought created by a child in her most desperate hour of need. You are a mental abstract, which took form as a secondary brain. You are nothing."**_

"_No…I won't stand for this. Humans must die…"_

"_**You're like a broken record, but I think I've made my point clear."**_

"_I WILL NOT STAND…"_

_*CRASH!*_

"_GUAH!" She throws up her blood as the fist grinds into her gut. She reels over before another hand grabs her by her throat and slams her back into the hard pavement. Humans and Diclonius, friends and enemies have finally appeared yet they of course keep their distance. _

"_**Do you know what will happen, if you kill all the humans? You will die."**_

"_Liar." She says, refusing to believe him._

"_**You idiot. Without humans your kind has now way to reproduce. Siplitets are infertile, the only way to produce Diclonius your way is to have sex with a King Diclonius. Brutus was the last one and considering he's dead now, what do you have left. You even killed your own daughter. **_

_**No King will ever be born. You will die out, extinct."**_

_She has heard it. She had heard all of it and even still, with the knowledge right in front of her. She refuses to believe it._

"_No."_

_Torino glowers at her, his frustration rising._

"_No…" She repeats, looking at everyone. The humans, Torino, Lucy, Lilium, Ierina's body, Ashrina._

"_No…No…"_

_It's repeated again and again._

"_No…No…No…No…NO!…NO!…NO! Humans. Humans…I hate humans. I hate you all."_

_And so she snaps._

"_!"_

_And her entire world erupts around her. Torino is brought to his knees, the pressure building on him. "Shit…What the hell?" He grumbled. It's like gravity is being increased. The Dark Queen is mad, her vectors are spinning wildly out of control. She screams and brings out her spear which is radiating profusely. Too strong._

_Far too strong._

_Her vectors are so strong and there are more. What was once 100 is now 500. They surround everything. They rip apart the buildings and tear the humans apart. She sees him, Torino, struggling, glaring at her. He won't give up! Despite everything against him, Kakuzawa Torino has always lived by the creed that he will never surrender. Even though Serelia's energy is negatively effecting his body, keeping him from moving, he pushes against it as if he can possibly win. Blind rage crosses Serelia as she watches as the multitude of weapons in his body begin to fire rapidly at Serelia the lighter ammo easily blocked but some of the heavier ones including high impact missiles the soar from his spine prove much more difficult. They crash around Serelia, blowing apart the streets and buildings as the vectors rip everything apart to reach him. Even as they tear him apart, ripping his neck, arms and legs off, leaving Torino to spew massive amounts of blood from his mouth. He does not fall._

_He's already regenerating, an act hard enough considering his body's predicament and fires off another stream of missiles that explode over head. A trap as from the massive blast a stream of smaller but faster missiles rain down upon the dark mistress who screams in volatile fury. They rip, tear and break apart his body which forms together, still straining against her abilities while she feels the pressure of his vast weaponry against her powers. Why does he continue, attacking as if he can possibly win? Why does he keep coming, never stopping, never giving up? What makes him believe that he ever had a chance?_

_**"Keh! What's wrong Voice? Have you not figured it out yet!" **He yelled in his multi-layered voice, his body struggling, and yet even as his physical body begins to succumb to the pressure and break away into the fine dust, his bullets, missiles, and other assortment of weaponry crash against her vectors without a moments hesitation. **"I am Kakuzawa Torino, the last of the Kakuzawa lineage, self-created god, intelligence ommniscient. I lived a life of my own unhappiness and attained the heart that I had once thought forever lost! You just don't get it do you Voice? No matter what happens, I will never surrender!  
**_

_**You couldn't kill me as a god.**_

_**You couldn't kill me as a monster.**_

_**You couldn't even kill me as a man.**_

_**But it isn't because you're weak, no far from it. But I've told you before...that I will take you on any time! I am here, behind no walls and nobody! 500 vectors that swarm around me, ripping me apart, they mean absolutely nothing to me! **_

_**SO THEN COME ON! YOU FUCKING DICLONIUS VOICE!"**_

_Streams upon streams of vectors and weapons smash and blow apart in the wake of one another and Serelia finally snaps.**  
**_

_Damn him!_

_She was sick of him._

_It was finally time._

_Ashrina saw it all in her eyes. The rush of wings, the vectors breaking and destroying. The wind blowing and Serelia's powerful spear poised to strike. Torino doesn't blink…he doesn't flinch or beg for mercy. Firing rapidly Serelia charges, rushing forward and breakneck speeds, her vectors obliterating the weapons before her. Gripping the black spear, its energy radiating outwards that that even far away begins to break Torino's body apart. The moment it hits it'll be over and he knows it, the future knows it. He can't do anything but await the inevitable. He doesn't fear Serelia…so he is willing to die. He understands that he will go to hell and be tortured. He understands that he will lose right now, at this very moment because that's what the future says. _

_But…_

_As Serelia gets ready to kill, while Torino is too weak compare to Serelia's new power. Something clicks into his mind. _

"_DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!"_

_Her screech is endless but there is an end. It comes in the form of the spear as it is rammed into Torino's head. The light flashes, dark yet blinding. It blocks out everything, the sun, the sky. Everything is engulfed in this darkness._

* * *

_It is dark now._

_It is very dark._

_But light does return. Ashrina blinks her eyes rapidly and looks around. They have lost. Torino was their last chance. She feels the sense of defeat overcoming her. It would be best to just die now. She doesn't know if heaven exists but she hopes it does. Ierina would be there, certainly. _

_It's over. Lucy sees this but knows that as long as she still breathes, she will fight. Humans are slowly being killed off now. Their numbers dwindling. Serelia has won and she knows it. Her power is the greater than anything in the world. Just to prove her dominance, not only does she beat Lucy mercilessly, she kills all the humans around her at the same time._

"_Mother! Please Mother! Stop it Serelia! Please!" Lilium's cries are heart wrenching to Ashrina. She knows what its like to see your family fighting, knowing that death is certain to come. She knows what its like to lose it all._

"_I'm sorry…" Ashrina can only weep now._

"_I'm sorry I just…couldn't do it. Mother…father…I'm so sorry. I just couldn't beat her._

* * *

_Yuzuu and Flavia are dead. They died protecting Kurama with all their might. Kurama looks at their blood seeing the many Diclonius loyal to Serelia coming towards him. He's ready, and he will die not sadly but he will think of all the happy memories that he's had. He will remember Nana, who loved him as a daughter. He will remember Mariko, his true daughter who said she loved him. He will remember the Diclonius who helped him, and made his life worth living._

_They fight. Jericho's guns explode as do Bandou's. Nana zips in and out, cutting the devils in half. But there are so many. It's not dealing with ten or twenty. It's dealing with over 600. _

_And everywhere, humans are dying__._

* * *

_So Ashrina cries, own her knees and sobs harshly without limit. "I'm sorry everyone!" She moans, the wetness plastering her face. "I'm so sorry, I'm…I'm…oh god help me. Please oh god help me._

_Help me. Please help me…."_

_And so the god answers._

"_**A…Ashrina…"**_

_To Ashrina, everything is silent now. There are screams but she doesn't hear them. She is drawn to something else. Slowly turning her head to the side, she sees him. Kakuzawa Torino is slumped against the broken rubble of a destroyed complex. Half of his head is gone vanishing into dust but more so, his entire body is being ripped apart slowly. The white dust vanishing into the air. He can't regenerate this kind of wound, because his entire brain has been destroyed. He is conscious on pure willpower now, and that will only last so long._

"…_T-Torino?" She asks. _

_Torino coughs brings up a another round of white dust. His chest is seen, burned and rotting away into the white dust that is floating in the air. The young Queen walks over to him, not sure what to do or say. And at last she is near him, standing over him looking down at the man whom her mother had hated. The man who had tortured her and killed Celia's own parents. _

"_**Why are you crying…child?" **__Torino asks softly. Ashrina doesn't understand what Torino means unless he's being truthful. She is crying because there is nothing left for her. She has lost and has given up._

"_**You…are crying. Why are you crying…Ashrina?"**_

"_You know why…because I failed. I couldn't save them, I could make a better world. I'm so miserable."_

"_**So you're giving up?"**_

"_Yes…" the girl sobs, falling to her knees. Torino, weak and dying does something he has never done before. He lifts a hand up, the flesh peeling away and places it on Ashrina's hand. It is surprisingly warm and comfortable._

"_**Do you miss your mother…?" **__He is not mocking, he says it seriously._

_She nods. Still shaking._

"_**You're mother…was a pain to me. She defied me to the very end and not once did she ever give up. She refused to have anybody control her. She was a pain to me to the very end…**_

_**And…**_

…_**She was perhaps the bravest person I ever knew."**_

_Ashrina chokes on her own sobs when she hears this. She looks at the man who does not have that cold demented look in his eyes. The hazelnut eyes are pleading, telling her to never give up and to never surrender._

"_I don't know what to do anymore though? I want beat her. I want to do something. I don't want them to die, because I was too weak."_

"_**Are you willing to continue? Ashrina…Or are you going to give up?"**_

"_I…" She closes her eyes._

_She thinks of everyone…her family and friends. Her father and mother. She thinks of all the good times that she's had and the bad. Her life passing her head quickly, flashbacks of past._

"_I…won't…"_

_Torino's body dissipates into the fine white particles. His body vanishes into the dust surrounding Ashrina as she makes her choice. Her choice right now. _

"_I…won't…"_

_It's repeated…again and again and again. The hand resting on her shoulder vanishes as well, and the dust encircles Ashrina who has finally made her choice. The dust goes into her eyes, her ears and mouth. She breathes it all in. And the dust kicks around her. The area around her heats up, her vectors emerging. _

"…_I won't…I won't…I won't…"_

_And she says it over and over again. Her red eyes glaze over as she changes. Serelia stops as she sees the white light in the corner of her eyes. She drops the panting body of Lucy and looks over, eyes widening._

_Ridini Ashrina is there, surrounded by a pure white light. The wind whips around her pink hair and those red eyes. Those red eyes starring at Serelia coldly. Those red eyes are merciless, they have left their kindness. _

_Her vectors are glowing, a white blinding light opposite of Serelia's dark shadows. The Dark Queen takes a step back, unsure what is going on. Lucy and Lilium look at Ashrina, wondering what has happened to her. There is silence._

_One moment of silence._

* * *

_Ashrina looked around, her eyes starring around her. Those cold red eyes, merciless sees all the bloodshed around her. She sees the body of Ierina and her heart is split in two. She sees Lilium and Lucy dying._

_And she looks at the Diclonius out in the open, who have murdered so many humans. Who are willing to murder her, her family and friends._

"_**Are you ready…Ridni Ashrina?"**_

_She doesn't need to give an answer to The Voice in her head now. But the Voice already knows her answer. The Voice knows her answer well before she can even give it. She has transformed. The power of the Queen of the Diclonius, with the Voice of a god. She is no longer Queen Ashrina._

_Goddess Ashrina._

_*Thip*_

_Ashrina vanishes. She doesn't move, she vanishes. She has a disappeared from sight with Serelia gasping in utter shock. She is the daughter of Ridini Frederick, super human capable of amazing speed. She rushes forward, Serelia still in shock and by the time she finds her…she sees what is happening._

_Zipping in and out. Ashrina shows no mercy to the horde of Diclonius that have tried to murder her and her family. She rips through them, her pikes stabbing in and out. Her face is livid without mercy to those who would hurt humans. Their bodies are ripped apart, gored and spit. Their screams are silenced as they are cut, her body vanishing in and out._

_A white stream is flying around, moving through the horde of Siplitets and killing them. No. She doesn't kill them. She murders them, in a heartless brutal fashion. She won't give up, and she'll make them all pay. She'll make everyone who tried to hurt the humans and her family dead. But most importantly…she is going to teach Chiba Serelia a lesson._

"_Impossible…" Serelia muttered, watching the blood shed commence. "That's impossible, how did this happen to her? She can't do this…"_

_Arms are blown apart, legs torn off. Hearts exploded and heads popped. Lucy and Lilium and anyone else who is watching cannot believe what they are seeing. After 3 minutes, Ashrina reappears back to Serelia, Her back turned to her. _

"_It's over…Serelia." She said viciously._

"_Bitch!" The Dark Queens screams, turning around and throwing her spear out. "What?" She can't believe it, she missed. She missed and she doesn't know where Ashrina is. She finds her answer soon enough though. Ashrina rushes at her…vectors drawn._

"_You fool!" Serelia shrieks._

"_**Left."**_

_She dodges it as the Voice tells her. As Kakuzawa Torino is telling her to do so. She won't give up, not to her. She was going to make Serelia pay…for everything. _

_*Thip*_

_The vector stabs through her side forcing Serelia to gush blood out of her mouth. Desperately Serelia tries to counterattack and her vectors are rush at Ashrina. They don't even reach her. They turn into smoke before they can even touch her. Ridini Ashrina is a girl who lost her mother and father to Serelia. She lost a sister to her. She lost a lot and it was because of her that she cried all night, wishing for her mother. _

_She knows her mother and father are dead and will never return. Maybe one day, when she dies she'll see them in another life. They can be happy then but this was now. This egoistical war would last no more. _

_*BAM!*_

_Serelia is sent flying through the air by the attack. Her body burning with intense pain as she shatters through the building in which Kurama and the others are in, moments from being decapitated. With another *thip* Ashrina appears in the room, glaring at them all. Her vectors butcher the ones about to kill Kurama and his good Diclonius and then knocks Serelia away._

"_**I was wrong about you, Ridni Ashrina. You really are going all out." **__Torino laughs inside of her head. Clearly enjoying this beat down on Serelia. But his next words are as serious as he can be. _

"_**Don't give up. Never surrender no matter what happens. If you lose, win. If you fall, rise. If you die, live. Do you understand, Ridini Ashrina?"**_

_And her answer is simple yet strong. "Yes." _

"_**Good, because if you do I'll personally fuck your mind into a damn vegetable."**_

_And Ashrina smirks, because she is ready. She used to be scared, timid and afraid. She used to be soft and she still is. She is not evil, she loves her friends and her family. She loves the world and those in it. The smirk vanishes…and her vectors are ready. Serelia is pissed, eyes shaking furiously._

"_You stupid child…human lover!" She spits out in the end. Ashrina doesn't reply, There is no reason for her to do so. Serelia is furious. How can she lose? She can't lose? Humans must die!_

_And Serelia is angry. She a Voice is angry. She is so angry now._

_She can't let this human lover beat her. She can't! Everyone watches now. Everyone's eyes are glued to this final moment. Serelia has brought her entire vectors out and Ashrina bows her head. Her hand reaches out and white light wraps around her finger tips. _

"_DIE YOU BITCH!" Serelia screams to high heaven, rushing at her. The white lines form into a shape, a small bow in which Ashrina takes one of her vector pikes and much like an arrow gets it ready. Serelia is mad, her face is livid. _

_Die!_

_Die!_

_Die!_

_That bitch has to die!_

_That fucking bitch has to die!_

_KILL!_

_KILL!_

_KILL!_

_She aims…as the vectors come. "Lilium…" She says softly and her friend hears her. She says nothing and at the same time she knows exactly what she's going to say. "Her head right here." She points with one of her vectors to a certain spot in her mind._

"_**If that's what you want. So be it, it's your choice." **_

_It is her choice. Lilium understands. _

_Ashrina waits and then fires. The blaze of white light rushes forward and Serelia sees it. It is powerful for sure but not that powerful. With a wide grin she knocks into the air. The gasps are anonymous. Serelia is going to kill her. Her vectors rush out to Ashrina who is now defenseless. She can't win._

_Kill!_

_Kill!_

_Kill!_

"_Huh?" And Serelia is caught off guard by something. A shadow has appeared over her, her eyes widening. Her eyes turn up slowly, her head turns up slowly to see something shock. Lilium, her face rapt with fury, holding the arrow like pike in her hands. Serelia watches in horror, as if in slow motion she sees it all. It all comes crashing down like a tidal wave._

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She can only scream which is silence as Lilium plunges the weapon straight into Serelia's head and they vanish in the light._

* * *

_White fades to color. The city is back along with everyone else. Lilium was panting heavily on the ground as Ashrina walks over to her. "Thanks Lilium, I couldn't do it without you." Her friend laughs. "Ashes, thanks for helping my mother."_

"_I know. Rest easy." And Liliums faints on the spot._

_Ashrina looks at everyone. "I can't let this happen. We need humans, much more than they need us. We can't survive without them." She speaks to everyone, she lets her vectors spread out. "Please, don't let this war go on. Sure we're different, but we don't have to kill each other. Please, my friends…Diclonius…don't do it."_

_And the world hears her and Ashrina finishes what Celia started. The Diclonius trust Ashrina, they serve her. But more importantly, they finally see the truth. Yes, some of them were hurt in the past. It was true that humans did mock them. But what about them? They were just a cruel, murdering them, ripping them apart. _

_Isn't it better, to live together then to die alone?_

_It certainly has to be._

* * *

"_Lucy?" A voice wakes the old Queen up. She can't help but smile when she hears Kouta's voice and her eyes open up. _

"_How are you feeling dear?" Kouta asks softly, wiping his fingers through her hair. Another Diclonius is next to her. "It's been awhile, Lucy." She says softly, placing a warm rag on her forehead._

"_Huh? Do I know you?" She asks, the face doesn't look familiar._

"_You do, although you probably don't recognize me. I'm Kakuzawa Anna."_

"_Anna?" She says startled. "I…well…ummm." It's hard to really put in words at time like this. But she is grateful._

_But there is one, who is not happy._

* * *

"_YOU BITCH!"_

_It's obvious why everyone is startled. Serelia is still alive, not even hurt. She is standing, fuming and pissed, fists clenched and teeth grinding together. "As if you could possibly kill me! You thought that little plan of yours worked. Plans backfired you stupid human lover! Hahahahaha! Bitch! Now you'll die just like your mother! I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU!" _

_But as she tries to send her vectors out to kill Ashrina, they don't come. She shakes her head and tries again…but they still won't come out. Ashrina glares at her futile efforts, still trying to kill her. Serelia can't believe it._

"_My vectors? They aren't coming out! What did you do! Answer me! Come out! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Dammit come out! I'll kill you! HUMAN LOVER!" She spits and screams every curse she knows, but arms never and will never come out._

"_You're daughter who you killed asked me to do something." Ashrina said sternly. "Even though she said she hated you, deep down she still loved you. So I promised her that I would give mercy to you. My attack worked flawlessly. That attack was too weak to kill you and too slow hit. So I needed Lilium to surprise you._

_The part of your brain that produces vectors has been destroyed. No matter how hard you try you will never be able to use vectors again."_

"_What?" _

"_I won't kill you." The young girl said. "You deserve it, but I wont' kill you. I'm not a murderess like you. Death would be a blessing to you, so I did something that will you will live for with the rest of you life. You can't use your vectors, you can't sense the Diclonius. Do you know what that means…dear little Serelia?_

_It means that you no different than any human. You are human and so you will be until you die."_

_Ashrina turns and walks away, helping out anybody who she can possibly help. Serelia stands there, alone, shocked and in horror. Her mouth agape unblinking. She is alone…so very alone now. The world is suddenly a frightful place and she is alone in it. Every sound scares her, every movement makes her flinch. She has never felt so weak and defenseless before because she too caught up in her own glory. Chiba Serelia steps back, every noise scaring her. She flinches at everything, so scared._

"_I'm scared…" She thought to herself._

"_No…No…please this can't be happening. Come out! Come out! Come out!"_

_But they never will. She looks at everybody and they glare at her, but they don't attack. They merely glare at her and to her, it is the worst punishment in the universe. She trips over her own feet, gasping and looking for a way out. So alone…so very alone. She runs away, far away…_

* * *

_It is cold. It is so very cold. Serelia lies naked in the snow, eyes wide and her body shaking. Nobody's coming for her. No Voice is talking in her head. She cries…because she is alone and begs for mercy. She begs to be free of this pain and this coldness._

_How long has it been since this happened? It was her? Chiba Celia._

_And Serelia regrets ever killing her. She regrets doing everything she ever did. So alone…so very alone. Nobody comes for her, nobody puts a warm hand on her shoulder. She understand now what it means to be alone. It's what she fears the most. _

_Chiba Serelia dies there in the ice cold snow, her body limp and useless. Nobody passes a tear for her. Nobody bows there head for her. The ice that she lays on cracks and her dead body falls into the freezing sea. She dies, miserable and alone as her body sinks into the sea and vanishes._

_Alone…_

_So very alone…_


	24. Floating Petals

**Ch 24: Floating Petals **

_6 years later_

_So many were a part of the war. An egoistical war that lasted for years. A war that has finally ended after so much suffering and destruction. There are those who have lived through it and those have died through it. There many names…many of them who fought for different reasons. But it all came down to the war, this horrible egoistical war. There will always be issues and humans and Diclonius will never be in perfect harmony. But that sense of pure hate is gone. If a Diclonius kills a human, it is because of simplistic issue like stealing. It's not because they believe they have to die. If a human mocks a Diclonius, it because they are human, not because they are cruel. That hate…is gone._

_So many lives, good and bad fought in this long drawn out war._

* * *

_Jericho sat at his desk at Institution 'A'. It had been a very long day but it hadn't been a bad one. He looked at the clock, watching the time tick slowly away. He thought back to the time, of his daughter and wife. How happy they were and could have been. He recalls his time at the Institution, and all the horrors that were committed. He remembered his fight with Celia, and his first end. That is long gone and in the past. His heart is old and frail. He is old and frail. _

_He no longer holds his guns with him, he has left them, seeing no reason to use them anymore. The room is quiet and is the night air. The only people working in the facility now are him, Arawaka and a few others. He is tired…very tired._

_So very tired._

_Pulling from his pocket, he looks at a golden locket with a picture inside of it. _

"_Elena…Miyana…" He says softly only so that he can here. He looks at it with all of his mind and all of his heart and he thinks of those happy days of which he held his daughter close to him. He loved them, both with all of his heart which is old and frail now. He loves them, his daughter most of all…and as he closes his eyes, he sees her smiling face reaching out towards him._

"_Jericho, sir. It's time…" Arwakawa began coming into the room before stopping. The old man was leaning against his chair eyes closed. His chest was not moving and there was no sign that he was breathing. He held the locket close to his heart, opened and revealing that picture he loved so much. That picture of his daughter and wife._

_Arakawa doesn't scream or yell. She accepts it as a fact of life and gets ready to call a funeral procession in. She can't help but notice that even after he passed away. Jericho looked rather calm. In fact, he seemed to have died with a smile on his face._

* * *

_Lilium held her daughter's hand on her first day to school. She was scared and afraid that people might mock her horns. "It's going to be alright Iylidia. You don't have to worry, besides, I'll always love you."_

_Her mothers kind word is what makes her go. She watches her daughter leave and knows that she will do fine. But she comes into the classroom to see her daughter off. The teacher is kind to her child and gives her a seat. No more than 4 seconds have passed that Iylidia is already talking to one of the human children. She had already made a friend._

_Back in Japan, their home. It was good to be back but Lilium and Ashrina would sometimes visit the United States every so often. Lilium returns home and is greeted by her husband. He is a human doctor who she fell in love with a year after the fight with Serelia. He was a caring man who almost over did his responsibilities as a father and husband. If Lilium didn't put her foot down every once in a while, he would have personally created the air that his wife and child breathed. He cared for them certainly._

* * *

_Lucy held her husbands hand as they ate their dinner. She would never forget the kindness he showed her and how he was the first person to show compassion to her._

_The woman gazed happily into her husbands eyes._

"_You're beautiful." He said softly._

"_Thank you." Her reply is soft and sweet. Their child was an adult with a husband and child. They were happy. It would seem that many were happy._

* * *

_Nana looked out the window, gazing happily at the bright sunshine that casts a shadow over the cherry blossom tree. She watches her son playing happily with her friends and she can't help but feel her heart spread out. Of course being infertile, she could never have a child on her own, so she adopted Roc. _

_Never once did she regret it. When she first saw Celia with Ashrina, she knew she would always want a child of her own. It saddened her greatly though because she knew she could never give birth to a child. That changed when her Papa, Kurama, told her about adopting._

_The smile on her face didn't go away until an hour later._

* * *

_Everything has changed._

_Everything has changed for the better. _

_The Egoistical War is over and nobody will forget about it. They will remember it and they tell their children who will tell their children. So that the war never happens again. It will go down in history, and all of those who were part of that war. _

_It's all for the better._

* * *

_The spring air blows against the young woman's face as she stands over the tombs of her mother and father, crying but also happy. Her husband is holding their two children, son and daughter by their hands and is letting his wife peacefully stand alone where she is right now. She has to be alone for this, she has to gaze upon the tomb alone and take in everything._

_It is only now that she pays a visit to the ones she loved most of all. She looks at the first name._

"_Ridini Frederick"_

_She kneels down, caressing the small flower that is growing around the name, gently cradling it between her fingers. _

"_Father, I love you very much. I hope your proud of me. Look, I have two children, handsome and beautiful with a wondeful husband. You were a great father and I'll never forget you. I love you."_

_And then she turns to the second name._

"_Ridini Celia."_

_Her tears run down her face. She can't say anything because there are no words to be expressed. She looks at the name, reading each letter carefully and thinks of her mother. Celia who loved her dearest. Celia who did her best to change the world and did in fact help change it. She recalls particularly a time when her mother held her in her lap and sang her to sleep, her voice beautiful._

_Ashrina looks at the name, looking at the beautiful flowers that surround it. _

_And in the back of her head. In the very back where only she can hear it. It is short and it is like an echo that has been lost and finally found. She is the only one who can hear it, she is the only one who can feel its remorse as she looks at Celia's name._

"_**I am sorry, Celia."**_

_And she smiles as the Voice returns back into the recesses of her mind, leaving her alone to remember her life. The young woman stands there, happy and lovely. Her life has changed for the better and she no longer cries for her mother and father. The pink petals around the trees flutter around her, matching her pink and ashen blonde bangs. _

"_Mommy?"_

_Her four year old daughter walks up to her, holding her hand. _

"_Yes?" She asks politely._

"_Why are you crying?"_

_She smiles even more deeply. _

"_Because I am happy."_

_With one final look at the tomb, Ashrina left with her family, getting into the car. "There's an accident on the highway, take the other route."_

_Her husband looks at her. "There is? How do you now that?"_

"_Intuitive thinking." She proclaims with a smile on her face. _

* * *

_The pink petals float through the air, the wind taking them on their journey. The area is sweet and beautiful as the sun shines overhead. The massive arc tomb, displaying thousands of names will never go away._

_It will always be remembered._

_And the soul of a sweet girl, Celia, will always be remembered as long as time stands._

**The End**

* * *

_Author's Note: And thus ends the final tale of the Differences Stories. I hope you have all enjoyed reading it and I will say that I have greatly enjoyed writing it. Thanks for the reviews and thanks for reading._


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